HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS ARE MORE INVOLVED in health information exchanges than ever before, though they don’t necessarily conform to the RHIO geographical format, the results of a new survey show.

Based on responses to its fourth annual survey, eHealth Initative concludes that health information exchanges are continuing to advance and evolve toward their respective goals, with at least 125 communities supporting some semblance of a health data network. While the “heavy lifting” phase of implementation has slowed progress considerably for many projects, they are continuing to plod forward, the Washington-based non-profit group reports.

“Increasingly such efforts are involving all stakeholders within the system, including clinicians, community health centers, consumers, employers, health plans, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, public health agencies and government,” eHI officials said in a survey summary. “Twenty of the 130 initiatives included in the 2007 survey are just getting started, 68 are in the process of implementation, 32 are operational, five are no longer moving forward and five did not respond to the survey question regarding stage of development.”

CEO Janet Marchibroda says her group does not use the term RHIO because there is no standard definition and that many health data exchanges don’t confine themselves geographically.