Interoperability

The bipartisan legislation would require HHS to work with the private sector to analyze data from payers and pharmacists, flagging patients at risk of overuse based on prescription history.

Epic is working to take interoperability global, CEO Judy Faulkner told more than 10,000 attendees at the company's annual Users Group Meeting. "You've eliminated the silos from within your organization," said Faulkner, speaking at Epic's headquarters in Verona, Wisconsin, according to the Madison Capital Times. "Now it's time to eliminate the silos from outside." Faulkner was referring to Epic's One Virtual System Worldwide initiative, which it launched early this year. The initiative enables "clinicians across all organizations using Epic" to more easily gather, share and interact with health data no matter the location and presents it in a unified view. "We’re taking interoperability from being able to 'view more' to being able to 'do more,'” said Dave Fuhrmann, Epic's vice president of interoperability, when the project was first announced. This spring, for example, UNC Health announced it was using the "Happy Together" component of One Virtual System Worldwide to pull in EHR data from other health systems to create a more comprehensive narrative view of its patients – improving care for diabetes patients. As is often the knock against the company, the focus on exchange across Epic customers is not quite the same as true interoperability. But Epic said the initiative does include "organizations that use other EHRs." It certainly represents an Epic-esque approach to the idea of more widespread data sharing. Given the scope of Epic's customer footprint, with nearly two-thirds of U.S. patients and increasingly more in Europe, it's on a scale that could credibly live-up to the project's bold name. In some ways, the One Virtual System Worldwide concept is similar to Epic's ideas for "comprehensive health records" – CHRs, not EHRs – that incorporate more and bigger data. It's a branding of sorts, that reflects the new scope of tech-enabled 21st Century healthcare but also highlights Epic's own outsized ability to shape the conversation – even if some healthcare professionals take issue with that branding. In Verona, Faulkner told the customers assembled in Epic's 11,000-seat Deep Space Auditorium that the possibilities enabled by the shared network of One Virtual System Worldwide were huge. By connecting its customers across the globe and making data more seamlessly available and actionable within their and others' clinical workflows, Faulkner said Epic could help a wide range of organizations improve care for their patients and collaborate on medical advances that could have a global impact. "Together, we can find answers to many puzzling questions, and prevent many diseases," said Faulkner, according to the Cap Times. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

The company will continue to develop integration technology help hospitals with EHR optimization, medical device integration, interoperability and other functions.

Mona Siddiqui, MD will focus on data sharing culture and the findings from a soon-to-be-released report on the initiative's first phase.

Ongoing data sharing problems demonstrate that industry standards are messy and road bumps should be expected.

The technology is "getting closer to its breakout moment," says Deloitte, whose new survey finds healthcare organizations seeing "disruption" on the horizon and preparing to spend accordingly.

By enabling hospitals and practices to verify phone numbers, mobile devices could be an ideal vehicle for safely and accurately exchanging electronic health records, report shows.

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Following the launch of an investigation by Congressional Democrats into cronyism at the agency, the lawsuit asks the court to block the trio who reportedly influenced the agency’s Cerner EHR contract and other policies.

The apps will leverage SMART on FHIR to bring patient communication and medication reconciliation data into EHR workflows.