CapSite, a healthcare technology research and advisory firm based out of Burlington, Vt., announced the release of the 2011 U.S. Health Information Exchange (HIE) Study. The study is the most recent in a series of CapSite industry reports focused on assessing the impact of the HITECH Act on the U.S. Health Informational Technology (HIT) market.

The study represents Voice of Customer (VOC) insight from more than 340 hospitals on the market adoption, market opportunity, market share and vendor mind share across the U.S.

The study found that 74 percent of U.S. Hospitals planned to purchase new health information exchange (HIE) solutions such as MPI, ePrescribing, disease registry and secure messaging. Only, 32 percent of those surveyed were part of an HIE while 47 percent said they weren’t but planned on joining one.

Other VOC highlights from the study:

• 16 percent of hospitals plan to engage a Professional Services / Consulting firm as part of their HIE strategic planning or vendor selection process
• Most providers plan to purchase an HIE within 12-24 months
• 47 percent don’t plan on using a consulting firm for HIE implementation
• The most popular HIE solutions that hospitals plan to purchase:
o MPI / Patient & Provider Indexes
o Immunization Reporting
o Results Reporting / Delivery