DirectTrust Grows Almost 970%, Nears 23-Million-Messages Record in 2014
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) January 30, 2015 -- DirectTrust, a non-profit trade alliance that advances secure, health information exchange (HIE) via the Direct Protocol, announced today that last year’s growth far exceeded projections. In 2014, the organization expanded its trusted, national network to include 38 Direct exchange health information service providers (HISPs), which now provide Direct exchange services to more than 35,000 health care organizations with more than 660,000 individual Direct accounts and addresses nationwide. In all, there were nearly 23 million Direct exchange transactions in support of Meaningful Use transitions and other use cases for care coordination.
That translates into the following performance:
Healthcare Organizations: Up 969%
Accounts and Addresses: Up 797%
Direct Transactions: Up 794%
“We’ve experienced stunning growth on every level,” DirectTrust President and CEO David C. Kibbe, MD, said. “We’re talking about nearly a 10-fold increase in the number of health care organizations signed on to Direct. The word is spreading quickly, not just about the ease of implementation and use, but also about the considerable potential for quality improvements and cost savings as electronic Direct exchange replaces paper, mail, fax, and e-fax transmissions. We are starting to see the business case for use of Direct for clinical and administrative information exchanges between federal- and private-sector providers and their organizations, as well.”
DirectTrust-EHNAC accreditation signals strict privacy, security, and trust-in-identity controls are in place to ensure that messages and attachments sent over the Internet remain encrypted end-to-end, and that senders and receivers are identity-validated. Used within electronic health record (EHR) software, this empowers providers and hospitals to communicate with HIPAA-compliance across organizational boundaries and proprietary software platforms. It also qualifies them for the federal government’s meaningful-use incentive programs.
More than 300 certified EHRs now rely upon DirectTrust HISPs for their Direct exchange capability.
“Cerner believes our industry needs interoperability to offer patients the improved continuity of care they deserve,” said Andy Heeren, director, network IP, Cerner. “By partnering with DirectTrust, we’re making it easier for health care organizations to utilize an open, yet secure, communication infrastructure that will help shape the future of health information exchange.”
Despite somewhat disappointing numbers of providers and hospitals participating in Stage 2 Meaningful Use in 2014, expansion is expected to continue during 2015 among its current core users – including medical practices, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and laboratories. The technology is also being adopted by a growing number of federal agencies. HISPs from the Veterans Administration, United States Postal Services, and Indian Health Services have applied for DirectTrust-EHNAC accreditation so as to provide interoperable and secure Direct exchange between their own and private sector providers and their EHRs.
Other organizations interested in details on attaining accreditation may visit http://www.DirectTrust.org.
About DirectTrust
DirectTrust is a nonprofit, competitively neutral, self-regulatory entity created by and for participants in the Direct community – including health information service providers (HISPs), certificate authorities, registration authorities, doctors, patients, and vendors. It supports both provider-to-provider, as well as patient-to-provider Direct exchange. The goal of DirectTrust is to develop, promote and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices needed to maintain security and trust within the Direct network, consistent with the HITECH Act and the governance rules for the NwHIN established by the ONC. DirectTrust is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the Direct exchange of health information. DirectTrust is the recipient of a two-year Cooperative Agreement with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, ONC, under the Exemplar HIE Governance Program, and has been supported in part by a grant associated with the Cooperative Agreement. To learn more, please visit http://www.DirectTrust.org.
About Cerner
Cerner’s health information technologies connect people, information and systems at more than 14,000 facilities worldwide. Recognized for innovation, Cerner solutions assist clinicians in making care decisions and enable organizations to manage the health of populations. The company also offers an integrated clinical and financial system to help health care organizations manage revenue, as well as a wide range of services to support clients’ clinical, financial and operational needs. Cerner’s mission is to contribute to the improvement of health care delivery and the health of communities. Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, visit cerner.com, read our blog at cerner.com/blog, connect with us on Twitter at twitter.com/cerner and on Facebook at facebook.com/cerner.
David C. Kibbe, MD, DirectTrust, http://www.directtrust.org, +1 913.205.7968, [email protected]
Share this article