Interoperability: Why Can’t Accessing Health Records Be as Easy as Using an ATM?

One of life’s little pleasures is that you can travel anywhere in the world, put your bank card into an ATM machine, and withdraw money in the currency of that country.  It seems magical, and it sets the standard for interoperability of data. On the other hand, one of life’s frustrations is that you can’t move from state to state, from one insurance carrier to another, or even from a hospital to the one across the street, and seamlessly access your personal health record.  Ever wonder why transferring health information is so much harder?

Healthcare by its very nature is much more complex than financial transactions. When clinicians are trying to determine what to do for a particular patient, the information could come from many sources. It could come from information systems in imaging services or the laboratory, from the patient history and physical exam, or from devices such as bedside monitors. These different information sources “talk” in different terms and codes, called terminologies.

Creating Innovation: Finding new solutions to old problems

By: JaeLynn Williams

Last week, I delivered a presentation that calculated the estimated cost savings CMS plans to realize from healthcare reform.  The list was long and for the most part familiar, including everything from reduced payment for readmissions and hospital acquired conditions to competitive bids for durable goods.  What was notable was the total – a staggering $417B dollars that will be removed from the US healthcare system over the next ten years.   And this figure does not include the costs that will be incurred as we make the transition to ICD-10 between now and 2013.   Takes your breath away, doesn’t it?