By William A. Hyman – Interoperability in the context of EHRs is much discussed, but remains somewhat loosely defined. According to the ONC definition, adopted from IEEE, interoperability is “the ability of systems to exchange and use electronic health information from other systems without special effort on the part of the user”.
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Since 2013, eHealth Initiative and Premier have surveyed public and commercial accountable care organizations to better understand how ACOs are leveraging health information technology to achieve cost savings and quality improvement.
By Brian Edds – Thanks to some technology incentives from the government over the past several years, electronic health records (EHRs) have permeated the U.S. healthcare industry very quickly. Fewer than two out of 10 physicians used EHR systems in 2001.
By Edgar Wilson – Achieving interoperability is not just a technical hurdle: it is a challenge to the thinking of medical professionals. With all the current burdens how to get an already overburdened professional class to provide more collaborative care?
In collaboration with Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) unveiled a roadmap for the development of standards to support information governance (IG) in healthcare including national and international efforts to ensure interoperability among health information systems.
In recommendations submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) identified several solutions for improving patient care delivery and supporting the nation’s transition to electronic health records.
By Matt Patterson MD – While health systems are facing the need to provide better outcomes at a lower cost, there is only so much that can be achieved through consolidation, incentives, and standardization. Most recognize that in order to continue moving the needle on cost, hospitals and health systems will require fundamental redesign in the way care is provided.
By David McCallie – I have been honored to have served on the HIT Standards Committee from its beginning in 2009. As I reach my term limits, I have reflected on what we have all learned over the past six years of helping to define the standards for the certified EHR technology that lies behind the Meaningful Use program.
In a hearing convened by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), witnesses outlined opportunities to improve health information exchange, citing the absence of a nationally-recognized identifier as an ongoing challenge to matching patients to their healthcare data.