Hospitals' adoption of intra-system information exchange is negatively associated with inter-system information...

U.S. policy on interoperable HIT has focused on increasing inter-system (ie, between different organizations) health information exchange. However, interoperable HIT also supports the movement of information within the same organization (ie, intra-system exchange).

We examined the relationship between hospitals' intra- and inter-system information exchange capabilities among health system hospitals included in the 2010-2014 American Hospital Association's Annual Health Information Technology Survey. We described the factors associated with hospitals that adopted more intra-system than inter-system exchange capability, and explored the extent of new capability adoption among hospitals that reported neither intra- or inter-system information capabilities at baseline.

The prevalence of exchange increased over time, but the adoption of inter-system information exchange was slower; when hospitals adopt information exchange, adoption of intra-system exchange was more common. On average during our study period, hospitals could share 4.6 types of information by intra-system exchange, but only 2.7 types of information by inter-system exchange. Controlling for other factors, hospitals exchanged more types of information in an intra-system manner than inter-system when the number of different inpatient EHR vendors in use in health system is larger.

Consistent with the U.S. goals for more widely accessible patient information, hospitals' ability to share information has increased over time. However, hospitals are prioritizing within-organizational information exchange over exchange between different organizations. If increasing inter-system exchanges is a desired goal, current market incentives and government policies may be insufficient to overcome hospitals' motivations for pursuing an intra-system-information-exchange-first strategy.