Interoperability
In case anyone was still wondering about a leadership vacuum at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Karen DeSalvo, MD, is still national coordinator -- a fact that was in evidence Wednesday at the close of the American Medical Informatics Association's annual conference.
At the American Medical Informatics Association's annual symposium today, developers and backers of public application programming interfaces talked about how the standard could speed interoperability with add-on apps to enterprise EHRs, and help make those bulky systems more nimble.
As ONC puts forth the government's long-term vision for nationwide interoperability, four industry stakeholders -- the EHR/HIE Interoperability Workgroup, HIMSS, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise and ICSA Labs -- have joined forces to tackle more immediate challenges of data exchange across state lines.
As ONC refines its 10-year vision for interoperability, a diverse coalition of private and public interests has put forth its own ideas for transforming U.S. healthcare through IT. The eHealth Initiative on Thursday released its "2020 Roadmap," spelling out its goals for achieving the Triple Aim.
Electronic health records have seen encouraging uptake among office-based physicians in recent years, with eight in 10 now having at least a basic EHR in place. But what do these doctors really think about how health IT works at the point of care? Their frank opinions may surprise you.
With just 2 percent of physicians having managed to attest to Stage 2 meaningful use, clearly something is holding back the vast majority of docs from succeeding in the program. The American Medical Association says they should not be penalized.
Geisinger Health System and xG Health Solutions, a company founded by Geisinger, have connected a software app to an electronic health record by employing a new draft standard developed by international standards organization Health Level Seven.
Cerner CEO Neal Patterson put EHR interoperability front and center during the Cerner Health Conference, a client gathering that drew some 11,000 participants to the Kansas City Convention Center this week. There, he made a big announcement about Cerner's participation in the CommonWell Health Alliance.
Meridian Health and Hackensack University Health Network announced merger plans on Oct. 16; if the deal clears regulatory hurdles it would result in New Jersey's largest hospital network. In the meantime, it's offering the chief information officers of each organization plenty to think about.
You want genomic analysis and big data to take off? Don't count on it until interoperability becomes more than just a plan tossed about in federal HIT policy meetings. It actually needs to come to fruition, said Cleveland Clinic's Chief Information Officer C. Martin Harris. Otherwise, healthcare innovation: Welcome to limbo.