With 96.9 percent of hospitals reporting using a certified EHR system in 2014, nearly all hospitals are now outfitted with the IT infrastructure necessary to enable information exchange, according to an ONC report.
Although 76 percent of hospitals reported exchange with outside ambulatory care providers and outside hospitals — a number that has been trending upward since 2010 — rates of integrating care records lag, according to the report. Technical issues and operational and financial issues to a lesser degree are the top barriers to interoperability and, ultimately, better HIE.