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Marchibroda: Sustainable business model development one of the greatest HIE challenges

EHR Connection, June 11, 2007

Last week, the eHealth Initiative (eHI) released its Value and Sustainability Model (VSM), a tool to help communities develop sustainable HIE initiatives. eHI has been studying information exchange for the past four years, and this model is the culmination of that government-funded research.

Because no two communities are alike, VSM tools are adaptive and communities can use them as a whole or in component parts. "Our work in the HIE field revealed that sustainable business model development is one of the greatest HIE challenges," Janet Marchibroda said in a release. "eHI's Value and Sustainability Model offers a solution that is based squarely on the lessons of those who have gone before, customized to each community's needs."

Three community HIEs participated in the development of the VSM tools: the Indiana Health Information Exchange in Indianapolis, HealthBridge in Cincinnati, and Taconic Health Information Network and Community in Fishkill, New York.

The VSM includes the following four tools:

• A market readiness assessment tool
• A tool estimating the value created by any HIE network
• An estimator of risk involving investors, community HIE returns, and level of HIE subsidization
• A business plan pro forma, complete with interactive HIE financial statements

These tools are publicly available on the eHI Connecting Communities toolkit site at http://toolkit.ehealthinitiative.org/. Registration is required.

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