Interoperability is a key driver for success in healthcare today. It’s also essential to the value-based care movement, which can drive down costs, improve patient care and outcomes. It has already shown its importance time after time!
But what is interoperability exactly, and why is it so important?
The global health care system is nothing without the interoperability between different systems and applications. HIMSS defines this as “the ability of data in multiple environments to be accessed, exchanged, integrated efficiently for an individual or organization’s benefit.”
At its core, interoperability is the capacity for healthcare providers and institutions to access and share clinical information regardless of the system they work in. This foundation includes Health Information Exchange (HIE) networks that facilitate digital transmissions and EHR systems that store all patient records digitally with encryption security measures enabled on it so only those who have permission can read what’s inside. With HIES or even just an electronic health record (EHR), patients’ medical data is accessible across different types of spire facilities without having trouble moving around geographically.
Looking Back at the History of EHRs in the United States
By the 1960s, doctors and healthcare providers used handwritten paper medical records to store patient data for decades. But by this point in time, academic centers were also developing their clinical information systems, which would later become known as electronic medical records (EMR). Lockheed Martin created an innovative software called MEDITS (employed at first only within universities) that allowed many users to enter into one system simultaneously.
The 1970s were a time of progress in the medical world. Doctors, hospitals, and companies came together to create new technology to store patient records electronically for easier access later on. This system is now called Veterans Affairs computerized patient recorders or VAPRs for short.
By understanding how these computers work, patients can get quicker care with less risk of error; it’s also helped reduce fatal cases caused by miscommunication between providers when working from different locations.
CureMD Medical professionals have long considered using electronic health records (EHR) to be efficient and effective for providing care coordination while reducing extra costs.
The National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) was created in 2004 to implement an interoperable health information technology infrastructure. Then, under President George W Bush’s tenure from 2001-2009; there were many legislative actions taken that aimed at increasing use of EHR among healthcare providers through financial incentives like those given out by the HITECH Act passed into law during Obama’s presidency 2009 with his signature on it making all these initiatives possible today.
The Importance of Interoperability in Healthcare Today
With the seamless transfer of documents and care plans via health information exchange, patients can be assured that their medical records are safe. In addition, these lifesaving assets help guarantee continuity in an emergency room situation or when transferring to another healthcare provider’s system for treatment.
The State Health Department recently released statistics on how often this very thing has happened, with over one million people entering unfamiliar ERs without knowing whether they would receive quality attention due solely because there was no paper trail available prior. The good news? Joining 2018, we’re witnessing a significant change where more EHR vendors than ever before offer solutions that will meet most any needs.
Much work is left to achieve interoperability between different EHR systems and devices. However, more options for these types of digital medical records can lead healthcare providers in the right direction as they continue down this path towards a seamless transition from paper-based charts into an electronic health record that automatically updates across all platforms – including smartphones or tablets!
The SDOs have addressed the difficulties in exchanging patient health information across healthcare systems. At the same time, EHR vendors have improved their platforms to enhance communication with other software and applications. There is a need for standardization so that critically essential data may be shared more easily among different HIEs or even between individual caregivers using one system.
Interoperability has become a key driver in health care, and that’s why many technology companies are building proprietary APIs to connect electronic medical records (EMR) systems. The HL7 took this idea of using an API for seamless data transfer between different software programs like EHRs or monitors among other devices – they developed FHIR, which is considered the new standard when it comes down interoperability resources; these things all work hand-in-glove, so you can enhance patient outcomes by having access information about them at any given moment!
The Future: Heading Towards Deep Interoperability
With progress in electronic medical records (EMR) interoperability, healthcare providers notice an improvement. According to KLAS’s recent report on trends of HIE partners and vendors collaborating with different EHR systems for data exchange; 50% were satisfied last year, but 64 percent now say they are happy or very satisfied working together because it is easier than before when using more sophisticated solutions like those offered by one vendor!
Providers felt less confident when using these interfaces due to an 8 out of 10 dissatisfaction rating in 2017. But In the KLAS report 2020, providers ranked their ability to access critical patient data as 67% successful in 2020, up from just 28%. When asked about how easy it is for them to help a patient locate their records with this new technology that he isn’t familiar with yet but wants desperately anyway–they said there was only 13%, but then again, by 2020, those numbers rose 44%.
With improvements still needed, the recent KLAS report demonstrates that deep interoperability has come a long way, even just in the past few years. Now more than ever, providers need to focus on exchanging patient records with EHRs and HIT systems through FHIR standards-based APIs created by ONC’s efforts for enhanced information exchange.
Achieving 100% complete mutual understanding between healthcare professionals across all stages will need more development in the EMR system. The can be achieved by introducing new technology, systematizing APIs for data transfer, and improving technology to calculate the impact of Health IT on patient outcome and Care Coordination.
Many stakeholders are involved in shaping interoperability today, from payers to providers and EHR vendors. Coordinating these groups can be difficult but necessary if we want our healthcare system on the right track towards value-based care! However, obstacles still stand between us from achieving this seamless exchange of information. Hence, all parties have an easier time reaching out when needed most — which will rely heavily upon HIE capabilities by medical device companies like Philips’ Healthscope product line.
