New research from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) revealed that health information exchange (HIE) between hospitals and providers has jumped up 41 percent between 2008 and 2012.

The research was authored by Farzad Mostashari, M.D., National Coordinator for Health IT, who has just confirmed that he is stepping down from the position in the fall. Overall, Mostashari and his team of researchers from the ONC found that approximately 60 percent of hospitals actively exchanged electronic health information with providers and hospitals outside their organization in 2012.

“We know that the exchange of health information is integral to the ongoing efforts to transform the nation’s health care system and we will continue to see that grow as more hospitals and other providers adopt and use health IT to improve patient health and care,” Dr. Mostashari said in a statement. “Our new research is crystal clear: health information exchange is happening and it is growing. But we still have a long road ahead toward universal interoperability.”

In addition to the above, the researchers found 58 percent of hospitals’ exchanged with providers outside their organization in 2012 and hospitals’ exchanges with other hospitals outside their organization more than doubled during the study period. Hospitals with basic EHR systems, participation in regional health information organizations (RHIOs) had the highest rates of exchange in 2012. Eighty-four percent of hospitals that adopted an EHR and participated in a RHIO exchanged information with providers outside their organization.