The surge in the number of hospitals and providers inking data exchange deals has resulted in corresponding market growth for health information exchange, according to a new industry report released this week. 

 

Over the next five years, researchers at MarketsandMarkets project the industry will reach $878 million by 2018, up from its 2013 value of $558 million – a compound annual growth rate of 9.5 percent. 

 

The rising demand for HIE and electronic health record technologies, the U.S. federal meaningful use EHR Incentive Program together with the need to reduce healthcare costs are the major market drivers, officials point out. 

 

[See also: Top HIE vendors of 2014 named.]

 

Overall, the private HIE market took the biggest piece of the market pie in 2013 and is projected to increase at a healthy CAGR of more than 10 percent over the next five years. Report officials attribute this large share due to the uptick in adoption rate, clear business models and rising investments by major HIE vendors.

 

According to a 2013 HIMSS Analytics report, nearly 50 percent of physicians groups surveyed indicated they were joining an HIE.

[See also: Vendors missing boat on HIE needs.]

 

The portal-centric segment of the HIE market, by vendor type, commanded the largest share in 2013 and is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR in the next five years. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the increasing use of EHRs in the developed economies. 

 

The HITECH Act, which allocated some $27 billion to eligible providers and hospitals that demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs, appears to have had a considerable effect on adoption rates thus far. 

 

[See also: HIE reduces repeat imaging in the ER.]

 

For instance, some 78 percent of office-based physicians have adopted an EHR system, up from 18 percent in 2001. Moreover, for EHRs meeting the requirements for “basic systems, rates climbed from 11 percent in 2006 to 48 percent seven years later, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released earlier this year.

[See also: Practices embracing HIE, replacing EHRs.]

 

For the HIE applications market, the Web portal development arena dominated, due to the increasing number of docs opting for electronic medical records driven by the convenience of portals to retrieve information on patients, officials say. 

 

Stage 2 meaningful use requires that eligible hospital provide 50 percent of discharged patients the ability to download, view and transmit information about their hospital admission within 36 hours via a portal. This data includes vital signs, laboratory test results, discharge instructions, summary of care record and care plan fields. 

 

[See also: No HIE means 'lost opportunity' for cash.]

 

North America accounted for the largest share of the global HIE market in 2013, as a majority of HIE companies are concentrated in the U.S. However, the Asian region is expected to grow at a higher CAGR in the forecast period. The major players in the HIE market include AT&T, CareEvolution, Cerner Corporation, GE Healthcare, IBM Corporation, Intersystems, Medicity, Oracle and Orion Health.