As frequent visitors to this site know, Chilmark Research is putting together a report on the HIE market. Report was moving along nicely, that is until the one I had hired to help me with it, was recruited by a client of Chilmark’s into a full-time position. While I am truly happy for him, it does put me in a bind as I now must take the lead in getting this report completed.
Therefore, do not be disillusioned at the lack of posts and/or the depth of analysis provided. It is simply one of those cases where priorities must be set and right now, that priority is the forthcoming HIE Report.
A couple of quick tidbits from initial findings:
There is no agreed upon pricing structure in the HIE market. Wide mix of pricing models from subscription to straight licensing and plenty in-between.
Most HIE vendors are focused on the basics of moving lab data with some order management and even referral management thrown-in. Higher order functionality such as clinical decision support, care/case management and business intelligence/reporting are still immature.
Now to keep you busy, a couple of reports worth a scan/quick read are:
A Health Approach – Technology for Personalized, Preventative Healthcare: This report from the Europe (ICT Research) gives an overview of several technology initiatives in Europe. While the report is not terribly focused (covers all forms of health technology) it does give one a sense of how those across the pond are thinking about personalized healthcare and where they are currently placing some bets with their research Euros.
Consumer Use of Computerized Applications to Address Health and Health Care Needs: This report was published last year by the US Dept of Health and Human Services. Quite a comprehensive report and a good primer for those who are just beginning down this path. For those who are more knowledgeable on the subject, the bibliography is the best I’ve seen on the subject. Someone worked very hard on this report and it shows.
In closing, fear not, Chilmark Research continues to keep its ears to the ground and if anything earth-shattering (or at least HIT shattering) breaks, we will discussing it here, e.g. the drop of Meaningful Use rules, though frankly, those rules are getting far more attention than they deserve, same for certification of EHRs. But we will discuss that in greater depth within a future post.
Oh, one last thing: the picture accompanying this post is a photo I took on the beach here in Chilmark MA. Basically, I like to take those nice rounded beach stones, balance them in odd ways and take a photo. One of these days I may actually print and frame one of these pictures, but for now, they make nice wallpaper for the laptop.