The healthcare industry is becoming increasingly reliant on technologies to shift its focus toward patient-centric care and away from the confines of paper-based records. The technological advancements in healthcare data management, such as the utilization of EHRs (electronic health records) and EMRs (electronic medical records), have resulted in improved health outcomes, informed decision-making, and reduced admin costs.
However, the problem of data interoperability between diverse healthcare systems hinders the realization of these benefits. This article aims to provide insight into the concept of data interoperability and the hurdles involved in achieving it.
Data interoperability in healthcare: Why is it difficult to achieve?
Data interoperability in healthcare refers to the seamless exchange, interpretation, and utilization of electronic health data across different systems, devices, and applications.
Achieving interoperability is challenging because different healthcare entities, like hospitals, clinics, and laboratories, use different formats, standards, and protocols for storing and sharing data. This makes it hard to acquire all the healthcare information in one place, which can lead to delays in treatment, problems with care coordination, and even medical errors.
For instance, when you visit a hospital for a check-up, they conduct tests and send your records to your primary care physician. However, it might be difficult to interpret the test results if the primary care doctor’s office uses a different system than the hospital. This can cause redundant tests, wasted time and resources, and compromised quality of patient care.
Benefits of achieving interoperability in healthcare systems
Reduces medical errors
Data interoperability reduces medical errors by ensuring that accurate and up-to-date patient information is readily accessible across different healthcare systems. This prevents duplication of tests, enables proper medication management, and provides real-time clinical guidance.
Reduces admin costs in healthcare
Interoperability between EHR systems and medical devices in the healthcare sector has the potential to save significant amounts of admin costs. This is primarily attributed to the streamlined delivery of care and improvements in organizational finances. The automation of workflows and information transfer empowers healthcare providers to efficiently attend to a larger patient base.
Better patient outcomes
Data interoperability improves patient outcomes by enabling the seamless sharing of information between healthcare networks. This allows for the early identification of health trends and emerging patterns at a population level. For example, it enables quick response to outbreaks and helps identify higher rates of specific illnesses, leading to more proactive and effective healthcare intervention
Enhances patient experience and care
Seamless exchange of information between medical entities allows the service providers to spend less time managing data and more on patient care. By eradicating the need for manual record entry, valuable time is saved, allowing healthcare professionals to dedicate more time to their patients. This leads to increased patient satisfaction. Additionally, it improves communication among healthcare teams, reducing transcription errors and ultimately leading to safer, more effective patient care.
Achieving healthcare data interoperability: Challenges and their solutions
Managing inconsistent information across multiple sources
Managing inconsistent information across multiple sources is a significant challenge in healthcare data interoperability. The healthcare industry relies on diverse sources of data, including electronic health records, medical imaging, laboratory results, and more. These data come from various systems, organizations, and formats, leading healthcare IT departments to expend excessive time and effort in locating them.
Solutions:
- Have a unified medical records indexing process in place for faster retrieval of information
- Implement standardized data formats and communication protocols, such as FHIR.
Validating electronic requests for patient information
Maintaining the confidentiality and security of patient health records is of paramount importance and is mandated by law. However, determining when it is appropriate to process electronic requests for patient information can be a complex task.
Providers require more than a mere endorsement from their EHR provider, especially with the introduction of new training and certification prerequisites under the Cures Act Final Rule. Currently, most providers rely solely on the approval of their EHRs when disseminating critical patient data.
Solutions:
- Implement validation processes that can adapt to the growing volume of electronic requests.
- Use AI tools along with human oversight to automate the validation process.
Overcoming organizational reluctance to data sharing
Data sharing reluctance among stakeholders in the healthcare industry, particularly between hospital systems and urgent care clinics, is a common challenge. Hospitals may perceive urgent care clinics as competitors for patient volume. Sharing data might be viewed as potentially aiding competitors in attracting patients.
Also, hospitals prioritize patient data security, and concerns about breaches or unauthorized access may contribute to their reluctance to share sensitive information.
Solutions:
- Establish clear and well-defined protocols for data access, sharing, and protection to build trust among stakeholders in the data-sharing process.
- Create incentive programs that highlight the benefits of data sharing for participating organizations.
Budget constraints
Achieving interoperability requires collaborative efforts from healthcare providers, insurance companies, medical IT vendors, and government agencies; however, many healthcare settings face financial constraints in making the required enhancements. Healthcare interoperability requires initial investments that may exceed the budgets of many clinics, despite the significant long-term savings it can provide.
Solutions:
- Use cloud-based storage solutions to reduce upfront investments in secure data storage.
- Outsource repetitive data-related tasks instead of hiring an in-house team.
Conclusion
The data interoperability problem in healthcare is a multifaceted challenge that demands immediate attention and concerted efforts from all stakeholders. The fragmented state of health data not only hinders clinical efficiency but also jeopardizes patient safety and stifles innovation. Medical entities must find ways to break down data silos by employing efficient healthcare data standardization processes to ensure optimal interoperability.