Maintaining health information exchange competitiveness in a new health care market

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the skyrocketing adoption of information technologies, especially in the health care system. The digital transformation of the health care industry is not merely restricted to increased use of telemedicine and telehealth, but also the creation of new care-delivery systems unexpectedly driven by agents external to the health care system, including new medical technology startups and retail companies. This also may be the very first time that agents outside of the market are leading changes inside the health care market, with new entrants to the market challenging the role that traditional health care providers have played. While the expansion of approved telehealth services and higher insurance reimbursements by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) paved the way for remote health care, dramatic changes in patient and physician attitudes, coupled with high return expectations of venture capitalists and entry of retail companies into the health care market, have been key drivers of the current digital transformation. A market that has traditionally been shielded from outside competition is now being disrupted by new, unconventional competitors. In turn, this has transformed the field of health information exchange (HIE), bringing forward the larger question of what their role in an evolving and highly competitive health care market.

[Niam Yaraghi is a nonresident senior fellow of governance studies and Samantha Lai is a research assistant at the Brookings Center for Technology Innovation.]