Advancing Patient Care and Driving Economic Impact, Indiana’s Health Information Technology Innovation Cluster Serves as National Model

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Seventy-two start ups, 2,500
workers, and $202 million in company revenues are just three new ways to measure
the progress of Indiana’s health information technology (HIT) innovation
cluster, a growing market and important part of the state’s economy.

These data, and more, are set forth in a new report, From Dishwashers to Digital
Medical Records – Indiana’s Leadership in Health Information Technology,released
today at the national Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
(HIMSS) trade show by BioCrossroads, Indiana’s initiative for investment,
development and advancement of the state’s signature life sciences strengths.
The BioCrossroads report defines, for the first time, the HIT cluster as a
specific sector of life sciences economic activity in Indiana, analyzing core
assets and documenting a decade-long story of steady growth. The report is
available at www.biocrossroads.com.

According to the BioCrossroads report, Indiana’s HIT sector includes more than
72 growing companies (organizations that produce or use technologies that store,
process, manage, and transmit health information, including patient data), along
with active participation and collaboration from health plans, life sciences
companies, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, and state
government that, working together, have bolstered Indiana’s health IT industry
to make a real difference in the economy of the state and the health of its
citizens.

“Indiana is at the forefront when it comes to the delivery of better healthcare
through the use of better information,” said David Johnson, president and CEO of
BioCrossroads. “This report is the first place that has staked out the
fast-growing field of HIT as a worthy life sciences sector all on its own, and a
driver of economic growth as well as higher quality healthcare.”

The report also points out the leading difference that effective philanthropy
can make in driving new opportunities, noting the more than $115 million in
philanthropic grants that have put Indiana and its well known research
institutions like the Regenstrief Institute on the national map for leading HIT
research and entrepreneurial development.

A recent analysis by IBM predicts the total U.S. market for HIT products and
services growing annually at a rate of nearly 6%, and reaching $42 billion by
2014, “a growth rate that is among the fastest in any industry.”

Indiana HIT companies stand to capitalize on this trend. In 2008 (the most
recent year for which data are available), the collective revenues of these
companies totaled $202 million, an increase of 125% over sales of $90 million in
1998, and coinciding with the rise of Indiana’s multiple health information
exchange (HIE) networks throughout the state.

Information Services/Software Development businesses claim 58 percent of the
sector’s jobs; consulting jobs are 27 percent of the employment numbers and
Electronic Medical Record companies/Health Information Exchanges have 15 percent
of the HIT workforce. Overall, health IT jobs have grown 61% over the last five
years.

Two examples of these Indiana-based businesses are Medical Informatics
Engineering (MIE), a web-based EHR provider and its wholly owned subsidiary,
NoMoreClipboard.com, one of the leading personal health record management
systems in the U.S.

Launched in 1995, MIE built and still operates one of the first health
information exchanges – providing clinical messaging services to the Northern
Indiana medical community. MIE also developed a full portfolio of web-based,
electronic health record products used by clients ranging from solo physician
practices to Fortune 500 employee health organizations such as Google, Lilly and
Dow Chemical. MIE’s Minimally Invasive(TM) approach to EHR implementation has
helped differentiate the company from other EHR systems that are often expensive
and inflexible and has positioned MIE as an EHR leader in the fragmented HIT
industry.

As quality of patient care increasingly became an issue in the healthcare
industry, the founders of MIE launched NoMoreClipboard.com. The company has
developed one of the leading personal health record systems in the country due
to its interoperability with various EHR technologies, health systems and
hospitals and ability to put patients at the center of their healthcare.

“The report analyzes data that support Indiana’s HIT national stature, and
provides us with a baseline for our future growth. It is an invaluable
resource,” said William Cast, M.D., chief executive officer of
NoMoreClipboard.com. “Indiana is at the forefront of developing scalable health
IT solutions that can be implemented across the nation. Our five successful
HIE’s, strong Beacon Communities, and technology vendors believe that in working
together, we can extend the success of health IT information exchange in the
state and beyond.”

Why the report’s connection of dishwashers to digital medical records? Both were
revolutionized through the genius of Indiana entrepreneur Sam Regenstrief, who
transformed the appliance industry by integrating digital controls into
dishwashers. In the late 1960s, Mr. Regenstrief established a charitable
foundation, the Regenstrief Foundation, and the Regenstrief Institute at Indiana
University to research the extension of digital technology to the healthcare
sector — allowing digital information to transform the delivery of healthcare
by tracking and storing patient information via electronic networks. Today, the
Regenstrief Institute and its clinical data repository, the Indiana Network for
Patient Care, represent one of the largest and fastest growing clinical research
engines in the world.

The portion of the BioCrossroads report issued today represents an executive
summary of a larger and more in-depth analysis of Indiana’s health information
technology sector that will be available in March. The full report will also
feature a discussion of the forces driving HIT innovation and expansion,
background and definitional methodology for the national sector as a whole, and
a review of future trends. The full report is principally authored by Robert
Peterson, a BioCrossroads consultant and the project director for the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act HITECH grant applications for BioCrossroads and
the State of Indiana/Indiana Health Information Technology Inc.

BioCrossroads worked with the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana
University’s Kelley School of Business to collect and analyze financial
information in the report.

About BioCrossroads

BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance
and invest in the life sciences, a publicprivate collaboration that supports the
region’s existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new
business development. BioCrossroads provides money and support to life sciences
businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Health Information
Exchange, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, BioCrossroadsLINX,
OrthoWorx and Datalys Center), expands collaboration and partnerships among
Indiana’s life science institutions, promotes science education and markets
Indiana’s life sciences industry.

SOURCE BioCrossroads