It is impossible to overstate how crucially important healthcare data interoperability is. It significantly contributes to avoiding medical errors and streamlining care coordination.
Healthcare practitioners might not have access to a patient’s entire medical history without healthcare interoperability, which could result in incorrect diagnoses.
Due to a lack of healthcare data interoperability, potentially fatal medical mistakes can occur. This guide will discuss Electronic Health Records (EHR), data interoperability in healthcare, and its benefits for patients and providers.
Table of Contents
EHR Explained
The term “electronic health record” (EHR) refers to safely and conveniently maintaining a patient’s medical history online. It replaces the conventional paper chart.
The opportunity to view patients’ past medical histories, test results, and much more is offered along with information. EHR encompasses all facets of patient care, unlike the electronic medical record (EMR), which only focuses on a patient’s medical history and treatments.
To ensure the highest level of care continuity, the EHR is specifically made to share information with other businesses or providers. For instance, a high-quality EHR can follow if a patient relocates to a new state, switches healthcare systems, or enters a long-term care facility.
Additionally, patients can access an EHR to participate actively in their care plan.
Healthcare Data Interoperability
Patient data is segregated and fragmented within the present healthcare system, which causes inefficiencies in treatment delivery. In order to get over these obstacles, healthcare providers need to share and exchange patient data that is complete and up-to-date.
HIMSS defines healthcare interoperability as the smooth access, exchange, integration, and use of data by various healthcare systems, devices, and applications. That is, healthcare providers can securely communicate patient health information because of interoperability.
What Is EHR Interoperability?
A system is said to be interoperable if it can quickly integrate with another system to exchange data. At the same time, EHR interoperability refers to how simple it is to move medical records and healthcare data from one provider or system to another.
Although there are numerous ways for healthcare systems to communicate with one another, the EHR is one of the simplest and most secure options without information blocking.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) states that four critical technological domains must be properly linked for an EHR to be fully interoperable. These consist of:
- User interaction with an application
- System interaction
- Processing and administration of information
- Device integration for consumers
In other words, the EHR must effectively communicate with other parties, such as clinicians, pharmacists, and patients. This makes it possible for the appropriate persons to swiftly obtain health information while keeping others who do not require it out.
EHR Interoperability Benefits
The following are the main benefits provided by EHR interoperability:
Provider Benefits
Not only does interoperability influence income, but it also impacts providers, making it crucial. A provider can get real-time patient data by employing an EHR program with interoperability.
As a result, the healthcare provider can make judgments regarding the patient’s health without waiting for paper records, faxed information, or information that needs to be cleared for use on other providers’ systems.
The need to sift through intricate charts or understand illegible handwriting is eliminated because the information is immediately available in a searchable format.
Patient Benefits
When patients have access to their health records, they tend to take better care of their health and follow the treatment plan. Even if patients switch healthcare providers, their medical records will accompany them throughout the procedure.
Since further testing, searching for symptoms, etc., won’t be necessary, getting care at a new facility will become quick and easy. Besides, a patient can go to the doctor, provide samples for analysis, and then check the analysis findings on their computer or mobile device.
This quick exchange of information significantly impacts the patient’s health because many illnesses call for prompt treatment to save the patient’s life or reduce long-term health damage.
For instance, if a patient has a stroke or heart attack in the middle of the night, the emergency room provider on duty would require immediate access to the pertinent information in the patient’s medical records, including their list of prescriptions, any allergies they may have, and other crucial details.
Due to data interoperability, practitioners are more likely to make proper diagnoses, which lowers the danger of malpractice lawsuits arising from incorrect data reading.
Cost Benefit
When delivering care, money is just as crucial as care. While the amount of income that EHR adoption and interoperability will contribute to is unknown, logic would dictate that it would be a sizeable sum.
Due to fewer malpractice lawsuits, cost reductions would be the main source of revenue growth. Additionally, it would boost income since physicians could treat patients more quickly and effectively thanks to removing duplicate or pointless tests and irrelevant procedures, enabling more patients to receive care.
Before healthcare digitization, some healthcare professionals saw patient data as their property and were unable or unwilling to share it with other professionals from outside their organizations. These impediments are now being removed, which is positive.
Besides, EHR interoperability benefits providers/practices by lowering overhead costs, enabling them to treat more patients, and improving income. Also, it benefits patients by ensuring the highest quality of care.
Conclusion
The capacity of multiple computers and software systems to communicate with one another, sending and interpreting all kinds of data, is called interoperability in any business.
EHR interoperability in the healthcare sector is essential for boosting provider workplace environments, enhancing patient care and outcomes, and saving money for healthcare organizations.
It can increase productivity, reduce wasteful diagnostic testing, and improve communication between referring physicians and specialists by reliably exchanging patient data among providers and organizations.
