Health Information Exchanges See 40% Growth from Previous Year

Cost savings resulting from HIEs were reported by 40 operational HIEs in the following areas: Reduced staff time spent on handling lab and radiology results (26 initiatives); reduced staff time spent on clerical administration and filing (24); decreased dollars spent on redundant tests (17); decreased costs of care for chronic patients (11); and reduced medication errors (10).

The primary drivers of HIEs did not change very much since the previous year, according to the survey. The top drivers in 2008 remained in the same order for 2009. They were:

• Improving the quality of healthcare (112 initiatives)


• Improving patient safety (109)


• Inefficiencies experienced by providers who need information to support patient care (104)


• Increased emphasis on health information exchange and health information technology at the national level (99)


• Rising healthcare costs (98)


• Public health surveillance needs (84)