NeoTool — Singular Focus, Healthcare Integrated

Posted in EHR, Healthcare Integration, Healthcare IT

In my previous post, I highlighted an article that outlined success with Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption and what the healthcare innovators were doing next. I came across another article today that illustrates the darker side of EHR adoption. The article appeared in Information Week and is entitled Why Progress Toward Electronic Health Records Is Worse Than You Think.

This article represents an important insight into EHR, RHIOs, and the importance of connected healthcare. As the article states, ” RHIOs are critical to watch because they take on one of the vexing problems in health care: Clinical data is scattered across labs, pharmacies, hospitals, and the paper files of individual doctors’ offices.”

Some important points in the article include:

• There will be - and have been - ”stumbles” in RHIOs being successful. Community or government funding creates challenges, and gaining healthcare provider buy-in adds to it.
• “Big bang” approaches to healthcare integration may not be the best approach. Incrementally building healthcare interoperability or connections may be a better approach. For example, start with lab results then move to radiology patient reports, pharmacy, etc.
• Push vs. Pull:  Letting doctors pull data on their patients may be a better approach than pushing patient data to a doctor.
• “IT won’t solve the health care problem, but you can’t solve the problem without IT.”

The various models will be tested and tried, and one may work better for one community than another. We see healthcare providers building their own electronic clinical data exchanges without community funding.

Identifying the motivating factors along with a sense of urgency and practicality may help achieve greater success. Don’t wait for a RHIO or an EHR to take hold; begin to build your healthcare connections with willing partners and the momentum may build.

Last 5 posts by Jon Mertz

• Hospitals Creating Their Own Networks - August 18th, 2008
• Healthcare Unbound Conference Insights - July 15th, 2008
• Electronic Medical Record Perspectives Grow - June 27th, 2008
• EMRs for Free... Really? - June 23rd, 2008
• HL7 Continuity of Care Document Quick Start Guide - June 12th, 2008