3 Steps Hospitals Can Take Towards Healthcare Interoperability

Interoperability is something the healthcare space is still perfecting. Until larger changes are made to healthcare's infrastructure, however, there are things you can do at the internal level to enhance your own interoperability.

HIMMS describes interoperability as “the extent to which systems and devices can exchange data and interpret that shared data.” For two systems to be interoperable by HIMMS’ definition, they need to be able to share data between themselves and present it in such a way that a physician could understand and fully implement that data into their treatment.

In a perfect, interoperable world, various pieces of healthcare information technology could share information with each other without any loss in the accuracy/quantity of data. And while the code hasn’t quite been cracked yet, efforts are being made to make this not the case.

Just this year, the department of health and human services (HHS) proposed new rules geared towards requiring plan providers to embrace open data sharing technologies.

But, where does that leave hospitals suffering from interoperability issues now? What can a facility do internally to help the interoperability effort?

1. Consolidate Your Hardware

Data works like a game of telephone, each time it’s sent from one software to another or from one device to another, a little clarity is lost until you’re left with a swiss cheese-esque patient record filled with holes and missing information. The more data you can consolidate into one system, the less lost in translation, the more interoperable your operation becomes.

A medical grade tablet or computer can function as an important data hub if it supports the right customization. Take, for example, a medical computer outfitted with an RFID scanner. With that included hardware, prescriptions can be scanned and logged, assets such as tools and equipment can be tracked, you can even keep tabs on patient movement around the facility if they were given an RFID bracelet upon their admittance. This same hardware can be used to clock nurses and staff in and out of work.

Having all of this hardware that would otherwise be externalized saves on translation issues between systems and provides a more complete picture of any given patient.

2. Consolidate Your Data

EHRs are not the end all source of patient information. There’s a goldmine of information that can be drawn from sources such as wearable devices, gene-based tests, and socio-economic data. Bringing all this information into one system without some of it getting lost becomes difficult.

Data warehouses function as a central repository for large amounts of information. With one of these warehouses, data is pulled from several systems including transactional systems, relational databases, and more and neatly packages it into one source.

Utilizing a data warehouse can help patch the holes in a patient’s health record that are typical in the current day and age.

3. Communicate with Your Vendors

If you know you’re going to be implementing a new EHR or clinical system, always speak with the interface vendor. They can inform you if the new interface will need extra hardware or software to support data exchange from the other systems on your network. If it does, you’ll need to know so you can place someone in charge of managing that hardware, ensuring data transfer proceeds smoothly daily.

Secondly, you’ll want to know your vendor’s typical response time when it comes to offering support. Timing is crucial when it comes to patient care. If your new information or clinical system fails during a critical moment, you won’t want to be sitting on hold for 45 minutes.

Set Your Own House Before Looking at the World

Interoperability between providers isn’t even close to where it needs to be. EHRs don’t communicate with each other well and different doctors have different record-keeping languages. Until more standardized procedures are created, the most you can do is have your own house in order.

If you would like to learn more about how to enhance the interoperability efforts of your own practice with a medical computer, contact Cybernet today.