The numbers are in and IHIT, with the help of Indiana’s five regionally-based Health Information Organizations (HIO’s), is making steady progress towards advancing sustainable, secure, standards-based health information exchange throughout Indiana’s rural communities and underserved populations.

Some highlights as of December 31, 2011:

• 101 of 123 acute hospitals have signed contracts with a HIO
• 2532 active participants  for directed exchange (Push)[includes unique ambulatory providers and individual labs]
• 5511 active participants for query exchange (Pull) )[includes unique ambulatory providers and individual labs]
• 13,365,891 transactions sent (Directed/Push) [includes lab results, discharge summaries, public health results, visit summaries]
• 1,205,317 transactions for patient record inquiries

As the numbers show, Indiana is well on its way towards securely moving electronic health data in a meaningful way to improve coordination among health providers to help them achieve improved health outcomes for their patients.

After speaking with several providers over recent weeks, it is obvious there is still much confusion about the basics of EHRs, where to turn to for incentive funds and the complexities of meaningful use.

Private Health Information Exchanges are growing exponentially compared to the public HIE's