The State of Health Information Exchanges

Last week, HIT Standards Committee recommended that providers implement the 12 HITSP endorsed standard capabilities, including being able to transmit in-hospital and out-patient prescriptions, structured health data for discharge summary and continuity of care documents, and lab test results. Having an initial set of standards and "meaningful use" definitions to work from is a good first step, but there is still a long way to go before the health industry reaches "meaningful interoperability."

Troyen A. Brennan, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer for CVS Caremark, is not sure how quickly the industry can achieve interoperability. The biggest barrier is "deciding exactly what that interoperability is going to look like," says Brennan, who has had experience in various sectors of the industry. He served as chief medical officer for Aetna Inc., president and CEO of Boston's Brigham and Women's Physicians Organization and as a director of quality measurement and improvement in the hospital setting.

"If I have my patients on an EHR in an ambulatory setting how will that be informed by and inform people in the hospital who see my patients," says Brennan. "Exactly how that information gets shared is a tough part that we haven't exactly worked out."

Follow Carrie Vaughan on Twitter.