Local involvement of physicians, employer/purchasers, technology experts and consumer groups is critical to a health information exchange initiative's success, given the number of data sources and the number of data users. According to the eHealth Initiative's 2006 Annual Survey of Health Information Exchange, participation in community or state health information exchange initiatives is up by nearly every stakeholder when compared to 2005 levels.
| Stakeholder Group | 2005 | 2006 | % Increase |
| Hospitals | 33% | 96% | 63% |
| Primary Care Physicians | 42% | 91% | 49% |
| Community and/or Public Health Clinics | 54% | 84% | 30% |
| Specialty Care Physicians | 46% | 77% | 31% |
| Local Public Health Department | 45% | 71% | 26% |
| Health Plans | 28% | 69% | 41% |
| State | 48% | 64% | 16% |
| State Public Health Department | 32% | 64% | 32% |
| Quality Improvement Organizations | 35% | 57% | 22% |
| State Medicaid Program | 35% | 57% | 22% |
| Employers or Healthcare Purchasers | 22% | 54% | 32% |
| Healthcare IT Suppliers | 45% | 52% | 7% |
| Behavioral or Mental Health | Not reported | 53% | N/A |
| Patient or Consumer Groups | 42% | 31% | -9% |
| Independent Laboratories | 43% | 49% | 6% |
| Pharmacies | 40% | 48% | 8% |
Source: eHealth Initiative, 2006 Annual Survey of State and Local Health Information Exchange
To assist you in developing, nurturing and managing the relationships essential to the success of your health information exchange initiative, the InformationSTAT campaign includes partnership outreach guides and partnership outreach tools for use as you reach out through speaking engagements, one-to-one discussions and partnership development.
While stakeholder participation in community health information exchange is broad and there are many players in the community that you will need to bring on board, our first set of partnership outreach tools and guides focuses on the physician community and the employer/purchaser community. The physician community provides care; the employer/purchaser community pays the bill. Each has an important relationship with consumers. And consumer support is a must.
This section is divided into the following:
- Employers:This section contains useful tips for working with employers and other purchasers as well as a Guide for Engaging Employers.
- Physician/providers: This section contains useful tips for working with physicians as well as a Guide for Engaging Physicians.
- Tools for Outreach : This contains tools you can use as you give speeches, educate your community or reach out to develop allies.
- Power Point presentations designed as education and awareness tools for community presentations.
- Brochures designed as educational tools for various audiences
- Five real-life case examples that can be used for your local newsletter, as a leave-behind during speeches or which can be offered to employers for use in their employee communication efforts
