Source
Response to 2018, 2020 (fielded 2021) and 2023 American Hospital Association Information Technology Supplement Survey.
Citation
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy . ‘Methods Used by Hospitals to Engage in Interoperable Exchange’ Health IT Quick Stat #71.
The American Hospital Association Information Technology Supplement has tracked methods hospitals use to engage in interoperable exchange with other organizations across the healthcare delivery system. Since 2018, the proportion of hospitals that often use four prominent network-based methods of sending and receiving information has increased, while the proportion of hospitals that often use mail or fax has decreased.
Methods Used by Hospitals to Engage in Interoperable Exchange, 2018, 2021 and 2023.
This quick stat reports data from non-federal, general acute care hospitals in the 50 United States and District of Columbia. 2,864 responded in 2018 (64% response rate), 2,364 hospitals responded in 2021 (54% response rate) and 2,547 hospitals responded in 2023 (58% response rate).
The figures present the proportion of hospitals that responded that they “Often” or “Sometimes” used each of five methods to send and receive information. For questions related to sending information, respondents were asked, “When a patient transitions to another care setting outside of your organization or hospital system, how often does your hospital use the following methods to SEND a summary of care record?” For questions related to sending information, respondents were asked, “When a patient transitions from another care setting outside your organization or hospital system, how often does your hospital use the following methods to RECEIVE a summary of care record?” The five exchange methods were: Mail or fax, HISPs that enable messaging via DIRECT protocol; Regional, state, or local health information exchange organization (HIE/HIO); EHR vendor-based network that enables exchange with vendor’s other users. (e.g., Epic’s Care Everywhere); and National networks that enable exchange across different EHR vendors (e.g., CommonWell, eHealth Exchange, Carequality).
Data are from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Information Technology (IT) Supplement to the AHA Annual Survey. Since 2008, ONC has partnered with the AHA to measure the adoption and use of health IT in U.S. hospitals. ONC funded the AHA IT Supplement to track hospital adoption and use of EHRs and the exchange of clinical data.
The chief executive officer of each U.S. hospital was invited to participate in the survey regardless of AHA membership status. The person most knowledgeable about the hospital’s health IT (typically the chief information officer) was requested to provide the information via a mail survey or secure online site. Non-respondents received follow-up mailings and phone calls to encourage response.
The 2018 survey was fielded from January 2019 to May 2019. Due to pandemic-related delays, the 2020 survey was not fielded on time and was fielded from April 2021 to September 2021 and is referred to here as 2021 data. The 2023 survey was fielded from March 2023 to August 2023.
The five exchange methods were: Mail or fax, health information services providers (HISPs) that enable messaging via DIRECT protocol.