Some state officials are concerned that new health information exchanges will not be able to sustain themselves after funds from the 2009 federal economic stimulus package run out, iWatch News reports.
Background
The stimulus package made $548 million in grants available to help states set up health data exchanges.
The federal government started distributing the grant money in March 2010 and is expected to continue handing out funds until late 2014 or early 2015.
State Challenges
According to an iWatch News survey, most states did not have any health data exchange infrastructure in place when they started building their exchanges. Those states used the majority of their stimulus funds for planning and implementing the technology, meaning that they will need new revenue sources to maintain the data exchange networks.
Julia Adler-Milstein -- assistant professor at the University of Michigan's School of Information and School of Public Health -- has evaluated state progress on data exchanges for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Adler-Milstein said, "The message coming out of every state is that they haven't figured out the sustainability piece" (Israel/Leonard [1], iWatch News, 11/2).
In addition, some officials are concerned that state health data exchanges will not be able to communicate with one another because states are structuring them in different ways (Israel/Leonard [2], iWatch News, 11/2).
State officials said they do not expect to see additional federal funding for health data exchanges because of national deficit-reduction efforts.
Efforts To Sustain Exchanges
To secure continued funding, some states are considering implementing subscription and transaction fees for health care providers and insurers to use the health data exchanges.
Parmeeth Atwal, spokesperson for ONC, said the federal grants were a "one-time investment" intended to spur the development of health data exchanges. However, he added that ONC is working to help states "fill gaps in a strategic way" to "encourage and sustain health information sharing" (Israel/Leonard [1], iWatch News, 11/2).