Nearly ten years after the 21st Century Cures Act was enacted to promote interoperability and standardize electronic health information sharing, the healthcare industry has built systems focused primarily on acute hospital care. However, with chronic diseases now accounting for 90 percent of U.S. healthcare expenditures totaling approximately $4.9 trillion annually, the current framework falls short of addressing where patients actually receive care.
The prevalence of adults in the U.S. with at least one chronic condition increased from more than 72% in 2013 to 76% in 2023. Those with multiple chronic conditions (two or more) rose from more than 47% to 51% during the same period. Most patients with chronic diseases manage conditions across numerous settings including primary care, specialist physicians, home health, skilled nursing facilities, pharmacies, behavioral health centers, and community organizations. Digital fragmentation between these disparate parties remains severe, with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently unveiling its Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model to expand access to technology-supported care options.
Between 40% and 50% of patient recovery and ongoing health interventions occur outside hospitals in post-acute or community-based care settings. The U.S. post-acute care industry was valued at $482.97 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $786.71 billion by 2034. However, post-acute care constitutes more than 40% of hospital discharges while remaining the most digitally disconnected in the care continuum, lacking the funding, technical capacity, staffing resources, and interfaces hospitals take for granted.
Healthcare leaders propose rebalancing toward post-acute care by funding infrastructure grants to post-acute providers and community-based organizations, expanding enforcement focus to address unintentional isolation of these entities, and rewarding multi-setting coordination with outcome-focused incentives rather than point-of-care compliance measures. The next advancement in interoperability will depend not on additional rules for hospitals and large vendors, but on prioritizing post-acute facilities where patients live, age, and manage chronic conditions.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://medcitynews.com/2026/01/healthcare-information-sharing-must-expand-beyond-its-hospital-centric-focus/