A recent in-depth assessment of health information exchange (HIE) vendors from IDC Health Insights is predicting "significant growth over the next 12 months or so," according to Lynne Dunbrack, program director at IDC Health Insights.

The HIE market "is relatively immature," said Dunbrack, during a presentation about the report's finding. Of the 14 examined in the assessment, "only four vendors have 50 or more customers."

Dunbrack added that today, "the HIE market is made up primarily of small privately held vendors," with just a few exceptions, such as Microsoft, Oracle, and RelayHealth, which is a division of McKesson.

But, she said, "we can expect dramatic changes in the next 12 to 18 months as HIE technologies become a commodity and dominant players acquire their way into a crowded market."
Many HIE vendors "have large healthcare customer bases that lend them expertise in providing cross-selling opportunities, so we expect that they'll be adding customers over the next year, particularly in light of meaningful use," said Dunbrack.


Indeed, as David Blumenthal wrote in a recent open letter on HHS.gov, “the federal government is working to enable a wide range of innovative and complementary approaches that will allow secure and meaningful exchange within and across states."


He cautioned, however, "all of our efforts must be grounded in a common foundation of standards, technical specifications, and policies" and must "encourage trust among participants and provide assurance to consumers about the security and privacy of their information."
Certainly, said Dunbrack, arriving at a common set of HIE specifications has been a challenge with such a crowded field of small players: "one wants to start with standards the community accepts. This has been a source of challenge for organizations trying to identify their own sets of standards and then working with other organizations."


Meanwhile, she said, it's crucial that vendors work with customers early on, proving that information can be shared safely and securely and demonstrating value immediately: "Implementation does not equal adoption."


Among other findings from the report: A vendor's ability to continue to invest in its HIE solution is another imperative, said Dunbrack, "since the business, clinical and technical requirements for HIEs are rapidly evolving." She also highlighted the importance of identifying data limitations and working to remedy those. "One of the reasons many HIEs have failed in the past is that few have contributed data," she said. "And as a result there's not been much data to share, and providers get frustrated when they don't find what they're looking for."


Finally, Dunbrack insisted, "resolving workflow is a key issue in provider acceptance. If it's disruptive the provider simply will not use it."


"The IDC report predicts the paradigm shift toward collaborative care through HIE models, which we see as a pivotal opportunity to drive improvements in the quality of medical care delivery and patient outcomes,” said Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of Informatics Corporation of America.

Among other predictions highlighted by the assessment:
-The HIE market will continue to evolve and mature over the next 12-24 months
-Enterprise HIEs will be the fastest growing segment
-Cloud will become a viable option for platform deployment, "particularly as we look at larger initiatives like regional and statewide efforts."
-Mergers and acquisitions will continue as the various vendors look to build out HIE solution portfolios"
-Partnerships to reach "the last mile" will be important, "particularly around the areas of patient engagement."