DirectTrust reports a continued steady growth in the number of Direct exchange users, addresses and transactions.
According to end of third quarter 2017 metrics, the number of health care organizations served by DirectTrust health information service providers (HISPs) and engaged in DirectTrust exchange increased 54 percent to more than 106,000, compared with the same period last year. The number of trusted DirectTrust addresses able to share PHI grew 20 percent to nearly 1.6 million.
DirectTrust is a health care industry alliance created by and for participants in the DirectTrust exchange network used for secure, interoperable and standards-based exchange of personal health information (PHI). Initially established for support of clinical care coordination exchanges, use cases for the DirectTrust network have recently expanded to support administrative exchange, quality measurement and data collection, patient engagement, and many other use cases where fax traditionally has been used.
There were more than 46 million DirectTrust network transactions during the third quarter, an increase of 114 percent over the same period last year. The cumulative total of 2017 transactions is expected to reach 170 million. DirectTrust’s nationwide network now includes 43 EHNAC-DirectTrust accredited HISPs, 38 Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle HISPs and four Governmental Trust Anchor Bundle HISPs.
“We’re starting to see Direct exchange selected to automate server-to-server connections and replace VPNs and single channel HL7 feeds,” DirectTrust President and CEO David C. Kibbe, M.D., said in a statement. “Direct has the benefit of being a secure one-to-many—not just one-to-one—platform for transport. Exploiting that benefit can save hospitals, health care systems, population management databases and others significant costs. One-to-one interfaces are expensive to implement and maintain. And once one is built, it’s just a single channel between two parties. Direct, on the other hand, provides a scalable network of interfaces able to reach virtually every EHR in the country. Direct is not just secure email: it’s a multi-use interoperability platform.”
The organization also announced the addition of two new members during the third quarter—Brokers Broker LLC and Janie Appleseed. DirectTrust’s total membership is 121 organizations.
