Healthcare Interoperability

What’s Ahead After TEDMED 2013

Last week, a number of TEDMED attendees and myself participated in a Google+ Hangout sponsored by Xerox to take a look back at our unique experiences at TEDMED 2013. The discussion included the following people:

Markus Fromherz, chief innovation officer of Xerox Healthcare
Benjamin Miller, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine
Nick Dawson, chief experience officer at Frontier Health Consulting
John Lynn, editor and founder of the Healthcare Scene blog network

We made it a really focused 15 minute discussion of the key takeaways from TEDMED. Some of the topics we discussed included: healthcare big data, multidisciplinary collaboration, citizen science, patient centered care, and a look at TEDMED topics 5-10 years from now. It was a really great discussion, and I encourage you to watch the TEDMED recap video embedded below.

Read more coverage from TEDMED from Xerox on the Real Business at Xerox Blog and follow @XeroxHealthcare.

Patients Want to Share Their Medical Data

Written by: John Lynn

During the recent Dell Healthcare Think Tank which I took part in, I had an idea that I think is incredibly powerful and not talked about nearly enough. In fact, I think its reasonable to say that if we want to get healthcare costs down, then we have to learn how to do this well.

The idea revolves around how we talk about privacy of health information with patients. Far too often, patients just hear news reports that talk about all of the reasons they should fear their health information getting out in the open. Instead, they almost never hear stories about how having their health information shared with the right people will actually improve their health.

The simple fact is that if you lead with all the bad things that could possibly happen with health information in the wrong hands, then of course no patient is going to want their patient information shared. However, if they know how sharing their health information with the right people will improve their care, then patients are more than willing to share away.

Basically, what I’m saying is that sharing healthcare data has been marketed wrong. The privacy advocates are well organized and have many people fearful for what will happen with their health information. I don’t have any problem with privacy advocates, because they help us to pause to take a reasonable look at the importance of privacy. However, the need for proper privacy controls doesn’t mean that we don’t share healthcare information at all.

The beauty of all of this is that the majority of people think this is how it happens in healthcare today. They don’t realize that quite often their healthcare information isn’t traveling with them to specialists and hospitals. In fact, when patients discover that it doesn’t they’re usually quite surprised and don’t understand why it doesn’t.

I hope we can work on the data sharing message. We can share your data with the people who need it so we can improve your care. If patients hear this message, healthcare data sharing will not be feared but embraced.

HIMSS Analytics Clinical & BI Maturity Model

Written by: Mandi Bishop

While the theme of HIMSS 2013 may have been, “How Great Is Interoperability,” the effectiveness of the many facets of interoperability are only as good as the actionable value of the shared data. The clinical insights that should be enabled by Meaningful Use Stage 2+ are expected to drive market trends in myriad areas of the healthcare system: chronic disease management, targeted member interventions, quality measures. In order to assess organizational readiness to capitalize on the promise of Meaningful Use, HIMSS Analytics began measuring the implementation and adoption of EMR and clinical documentation using a maturity model called EMRAM.

But, in analytics terms, EMRAM’s results are simply targeted foundational reporting, answering the question, “WHAT happened with Meaningful Use EMR adoption criteria.” So, you’ve got your clinical data in an EMR. Now what are you able to DO with it?

In 2013, HIMSS Analytics is taking a broader approach with the introduction of a new Clinical Business Intelligence maturity model, creating a framework to benchmark participating providers’ analytics maturity level.

I’ve been fortunate to know James Gaston, Senior Director of HIMSS Analytics Clinical & Business Intelligence, for many years, going back to his days with Arkansas Blue Cross. His appreciation for BI initiatives is matched only by his enthusiasm for the first day of turkey hunting season. When I ran into him at TDWI’s BI World summit in Orlando in November, he acted like a kid on Christmas morning, telling me about the brave new world of clinical data management that he was about to tackle. The excitement continued to build in the months leading up to HIMSS. James was practically glowing when we spoke about the upcoming C&BI Maturity Model release.

“Our customers are interested in not just understanding how to deploy IT applications, but how effectively they’re using those applications to support clinical business intelligence, as well as analytical pursuits,” James said. “So, HIMSS Analytics partnered with IIA to create and present a Clinical & BI Maturity Model that helps healthcare organizations measure that level of effectiveness.”

Sarah Gates, the VP of Research for IIA (the International Institute of Analytics), elaborated. “The HIMSS Analytics C&BI Maturity Model leverages the Competing on Analytics DELTA model, developed by Tom Davenport, which measures not only how well you’re using data and technology, but how well you’re building an analytical organization.” There are 5 core competency measurements in the DELTA model that will inform the HIMSS Analytics C&BI analysis: Data, Enterprise, Leadership, Targets, and Analysts. The methodology is holistic, touching on the cultural aspects of the organization as well as the technical, allowing a longitudinal view of the organization’s analytics program. A yardstick value from 1-5 will be assigned to each respondent based on Davenport’s criteria for each core competency.

Although HIMSS Analytics will eventually offer Level 1-5 certification program for those organizations with observed results for analytics, James and Sarah agreed that it is not appropriate for every provider to reach for the Level 5 gold star. Per Sarah, “Healthcare is an industry just starting to discover analytics. We’re expecting to see lots of practitioners that are emerging in use of analytics, so we believe it (survey results) will be heavy on the lower end of the maturity scale. Data warehouse capabilities and staffing career paths for data analysts will be key differentiators for mature programs.” Not all providers have the resources – financial, human, and/or technical – to attain advanced analytics nirvana, and James wants to insure that these providers don’t feel as if they’ve “failed”; the goal is to baseline against the peer group, identify opportunities for improvement, and focus on what is possible for each individual organization, working within their constraints.

What can we expect to see at next year’s C&BI survey results presentation? James said, “We want to be able to talk about benchmarking the industry as a whole, helping healthcare find its way with clinical business intelligence and begin to understand how important it is, and where opportunities lie Everyone’s talking about clinical and BI – it is the opportunity to realize savings in healthcare, to use information to empower people to make better decisions.”

So, it’s up to you, providers and technology partners. You’ve implemented your EMR, achieved a high adoption rate across your organization’s core clinical processes, attested to Meaningful Use Stage 2, achieved Stage 7 on the HIMSS EMRAM scale, perhaps even participated in multi-HIE CCD medical records sharing with other provider networks. You’ve got the data in-house and availabe. It’s time to see how ready you are to rise to the analytics challenge and maximize your return on those EMR and HIE investments.

Attempt to beat your previous Doug Fridsma long jump.

Note: for the complete HIMSS 2013 Leadership Survey Results, please download PDF here.

Bringing Long Term Care Into HIEs Without An EMR

Written by: Katherine Rourke

HIEs will never achieve their full potential if all players in the healthcare process aren’t included in the network. But without an EMR to connect to the HIE, how can a provider participate?

A new software package developed by Geisinger Health System and the Keystone Beacon Community Program offers a new option allowing nursing homes, home health agencies and other long-term care facilities without EMRs to upload data to HIEs, reports EHR Intelligence.

The package, KeyHIE Transform, extracts data from the Minimum Data Set and Outcome and Assessment Information Set that nursing homes already submit to CMS. It turns that information into a Continuity of Care Document usable by any EMR which is HL7-compatible.

This approach provides a bridge to a wide range of data which currently gets left behind by most HIEs. And as EHR Intelligence rightly notes, with telehealth and remote monitoring becoming more popular ways of managing senior health, as well as assisted living, it will be increasingly important for other providers to have access to all of the seniors’ data via the HIE.

Geisinger’s KeyHIE has already run several pilot programs using t his technology in long-term care facilities and home health agencies. It expects to launch the technology to the market in April of this year.

As is often the case, Geisinger seems to be ahead of the market with a solution that makes great sense. After all, finding a way to integrate new data into an HIE — especially one that draws on existing data — is likely to add significant value to that HIE. I’m eager to see whether this technology actually works as simply as it sounds.

The Marvelous Land of Oz: The HIMSS Interoperability Showcase

Written by: Mandi Bishop

As I walked the floor of the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase, listening to the tour guide’s carnie-esque pitch on the wonders awaiting me with each successive use case encounter, I ALMOST wished I hadn’t worked with so many of the organizations hawking their wares. It’s a bit sad to know the man behind the curtain, to realize that The Great and Powerful Oz is simply a man with a highly mechanized presentation. But that knowledge gives me insight that others attending the Showcase may not have had – and validation that, in the end, Oz IS Great and Powerful, even though he’s just a man.

There were 20 specific interoperability use cases represented at HIMSS this year, collectively, by 101 vendors. In order to qualify to participate, each of the organizations had to successfully demonstrate proficiency with their chosen use case at the Connectathon event in Chicago. In January. In a basement the size of a football field. Packed shoulder-to-shoulder with your closest competitors at high school-cafeteria tables. Talk about a frigid atmosphere!

Perhaps to stay warm, perhaps to pass the time, perhaps in the pursuit of the patient-centric design principles the healthcare industry espouses publicly yet so seldom seems to put into practice, cross-company collaboration occurs. Competitors converge on each others’ laptops, debugging code, refining business rules and algorithms. Functional use cases emerge, success stories are shared, everyone goes home happy with a list of enhancements to incorporate before the main event at HIMSS. The frantic rush to prep for Connectathon is amplified by the urgency and importance of HIMSS. The ONC is watching! Your competitors are watching! The 40K HIMSS attendees will be watching!

Invariably, the use cases are perfected in the weeks leading up to HIMSS, each click carefully orchestrated, each transition scripted, all parties putting forth their best effort to insure success for the spectators – many of whom are clients, prospects, regulatory officials, or journalists seeking The Next Big Healthcare Thing to go viral in the blogosphere. The yellow brick road is constructed, and as one walks its length, the carefully choreographed demonstrations come to life with compelling tales: “Keeping a Newborn Safe,” “Improving Pediatric Care,” “Optimizing Cancer Care,” “Beneficiary Enrollment.” The show goes on, and it’s a good one – albeit with the occasional glimpse of the man behind the curtain.

The perfectly nice gentleman manning the Federal Health Architecture booth seemed eager to demonstrate the capability to request and retrieve a patient’s medical record from multiple HIEs and disparate EMRs. He walked me through the provider portal view, showed me how he could see that there were multiple medical records available for this patient across providers, and talked me through each click up until the print button. Print?

“Aren’t you importing the records into the requesting EMR?” I asked.

“No. Right now, they have to print each set of records.”

“So, each time this scenario presents itself, the provider has to click on each available external record, print multiple pages, compare notes across screen and paper, and later choose whether to manually update his own EMR with the other information?”

The perfectly nice gentleman suddenly seemed uncomfortable. The Great and Powerful Oz, exposed as mere mortal, Oscar Zoroaster Diggs. You’d think I’d know when to quit.

“The standards and technology exist to do CCD discrete data import, and a couple of the large EMR vendors are implementing that capability for high Medicare population IDNs. How does it make the provider more efficient, and give the patient more face-time with his doctor, if we’re still printing and no data consolidation or reconciliation is happening prior to point-of-care? Why didn’t you extend the use case to show end state?”

He assured me that they’re working on it, and we made a deal that NEXT year, I’ll come back and he’ll walk me through their progress towards discrete data import. No printing, he promised. I’m going to hold him to it.

Aside from this specific use case, across the Marvelous Land of Oz, what I’d REALLY love to see next year: the basement Connectathon advancements made to support the use cases for HIMSS actually incorporated into the products. As part of the qualifying criteria for repeat showcase exhibitors, have them demonstrate the capabilities developed in prior years actually functioning in the marketplace under general release. That would be a substantial improvement on this year’s long jump attempt for the Interoperability Showcase.

I want to fall in love with the hard-working man behind the curtain, not the showy pyrotechnics.

Will the CommonWell Health Alliance Change Interoperability? — #HITsm Discussion

Written by: Katie

Today’s #HITsm Chat was a little bit different than usual. Instead of the typical four or five questions, because of the #HITsm HIMSS chat on Tuesday there was only one question:

Will the CommonWell Health Alliance change interoperability?

The CommonWell Health Alliance launched a website, and this is their mission:

The CommonWell Health Alliance will be designed to be an independent not-for-profit trade association organization open to all health information technology vendors devoted to the simple vision that a patient’s data should be available to patients and providers regardless of where care occurs. Additionally, provider access to this data must be built-in to EHR technologies at a reasonable cost for use by a broad range of healthcare providers and the patients they serve.

Overall, the response to this during the #HITsm chat was positive. The chat started out with OchoTex, who said:

— Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) March 8, 2013

T1: Sure it will! Probably mostly in terms of creating awareness that cooperation needs to occur, and will need to happen soon. #HITsm

Hi all. IMO the missing ingredient in achieving interop is network effects; Commonwell brings critical mass to reach tipping pt. #HITsm

— Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis) March 8, 2013

I think what happens within the next 3 months will determine if CommonWell is real or just a HIMSS PR opp. #HITsm

— Jon Mertz (@jonmertz) March 8, 2013

Awareness of interop need is a big factor. Whether it can deliver beyond that remains to be seen. Here’s hoping. #HITsm

— Brian Eastwood (@Brian_Eastwood) March 8, 2013There were a few questions raised over the course of the hour:

It was interesting to see the moves Epic made after the announcement. Was it merely a marketing tactic by the allied vendors? #HITsm

— Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) March 8, 2013

The question is will the large group be able to get to the details or is it high level theories. #HITsm

— Thoma Hudson (@ThomaHudson) March 8, 2013

Will Epic feel pressured to join Commonwell? I think so. What do you all think? #HITsm

— Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis) March 8, 2013

And in case you were wondering how people feel about Epic and how it will be affected, here’s a few tweets.

IMO, again it’s about creating network effects. Epic will feel pressured to join CommonWell if it achieves critical mass. #HITsm

— Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis)
March 8, 2013

#Epic is the Lucius Malfoy of #ehr #hitsm

— Nanette Nuessle, MD (@DrNanN) March 8, 2013

re: Epic’s non-invite: BFD. Would you invite the school bully to your birthday party?#HITsm

— Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis) March 8, 2013

Finally, just a few tweets from the chat that I found entertaining:

One of the best quotes from #HIMSS13 was: “To be innovative one must be humble” – too many egos in #EMRs #HITsm #Interoperability

— Melissa Cole, FACHE (@ColeFACHE) March 8, 2013

Full disclosure: I am major eader of “Epic is evil” clan. #HITsm

— Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis) March 8, 2013

So, what do you think? Will the CommonWell Health Alliance change interoperability?

CommonWell Health Alliance – The Healthcare Interoperability Enabler?

Written by: John Lynn

The biggest news that will likely come out of HIMSS was the big announcement that was made about the newly formed CommonWell Health Alliance. They’ve also rolled out a website for the new organization.

This was originally billed as a Cerner and McKesson announcement and would be a unique announcement from both the CEO of Cerner and McKesson. Of course, the news of what would be announced was leaked well before the press briefing, so we basically already knew that these two EHR companies were working on interoperability.

In what seemed like some final, last minute deals for some of the companies, 5 different software products were represented on stage at the press event announcement for CommonWell Health Alliance. The press event was quite entertaining as each of the various CEOs took some friendly jabs at each other.

Of course, Jonathan Bush stole the show (which is guaranteed to happen if he’s on stage). I think it was Neal Patterson who called Jonathan Bush the most articulate CEO in healthcare and possibly in any industry. Jonathan does definitely have a way with words.

One of Jonathan’s best quote was in response to a question of whether the CommonWell Health Alliance would just be open to any health IT software system, or whether it was just creating another closed garden. Jonathan replied that “even a vendor of epic proportions” would be welcome in the organization. Don Fluckinger from Search Health IT News, decided to ask directly if Judy from Epic had been asked about the alliance and what she said. They adeptly avoided answering the question specifically and instead said that they’d talked to a lot of EHR vendors and were happy to talk to any and all.

Although, this is still the core question that has yet to be answered by the CommonWell Health Alliance. Will it just be another closed garden (albeit with a few more vendors inside the closed garden)? From what I could gather from the press conference, their intent is to make it available to anyone and everyone. This would even include vendors that don’t do EHR. I think their intent is good.

What I’m not so sure about is whether they’ll put up artificial barriers to entry that stop an innovative startup company from participating. This is what was done with EHR certification when it was started. The price was so high that it made no sense for a small EHR vendor to participate. They could have certified as well, but the cost to become certified was so high that it created an artificial barrier to participation for many EHR vendors. Will similar barriers be put up in the CommonWell Health Alliance? Time will tell.

With this said, I think it is a step forward. The direction of working to share data is the right one. I hope the details don’t ruin the intent and direction they’re heading. Plus, the website even says they’re going to do a pretty lengthy pilot period to implement the interoperability. Let’s hope that pilot period doesn’t keep getting extended and extended.

Finally, I loved when Jonathan Bush explained that there were plenty of other points of competition that he was glad that creating a closed garden won’t be one of them. I hope that vision is really achieved. If so, then it will be a real healthcare interoperability enabler. Although, artificially shutting out innovative healthcare IT companies would make it a healthcare interoperability killer.

What Would ONC’s Dr. Doug Fridsma Do? (THIS Geek Girl’s Guide to HIMSS)

Written by: Mandi Bishop

I know you’ve all been wondering how I’m planning to spend my mad crazy week at HIMSS in New Orleans. Well, maybe not ALL of you, but perhaps at least one – who is most likely my blog boss, the master John Lynn. Given the array of exciting developments in healthcare IT across the spectrum, from mobile and telehealth to wearable vital sign monitoring devices, EMR consolidation to cloud-based analytics platforms, it’s been extraordinarily difficult to keep myself from acting like Dori in “Finding Nemo”: “Oooooh! Shiny!” I’ve had to remind myself daily that I will have an opportunity to play with everything that catches my eye, but that I am only qualified to write and speak intelligently on my particular areas of expertise. And so, I’m proud to say I’ve finally solidified my agenda for the entire week, and I cannot WAIT to go ubergeek fan girl on so many industry luminaries and fascinating up-and-comers making great strides towards interoperability, deriving the “meaning” in “Meaningful Use” from clinical data, and leveraging the power of big data analytics to improve quality of patient experience and outcomes.

On Sunday, I’m setting the stage for the rest of the week with a sit-down with ONC’s Director of Standards and Interoperability and Acting Chief Scientist, Dr. Doug Fridsma. His groundbreaking work in interoperability spans multiple initiatives, including: the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) and the CONNECT project, as well as the Federal Health Architecture. For insight into his passion for transforming the healthcare system through health IT, check out his blog: From The Desk of the Chief Science Officer.

Through the rest of the week, I aspire to see the world through Dr. Fridsma’s eyes, focusing on how each of the organizations and individuals contribute to the standards-based processes and policies that form the foundation for actionable analytics – and improved health. I’ve selected interviews with key visionaries from companies large and small, who I feel are representative of positive forward movement:

Health Care DataWorks piques my interest as an up-and-comer to watch, empowering healthcare systems to improve outcomes and reduce medical costs by providing accelerated EDW design and implementation, whether on-premise or via SaaS solution. Embedded industry analytics models supporting alternative network models, population-based payment models, and value-based purchasing allow for rapid realization of positive ROI.

Emdeon, is the single largest clinical, financial, and administrative network, connecting over 400,000 providers and executing more than seven billion health exchanges annually. And if that’s not enough to attract keen attention, they recently announced a partnership with Atigeo to provide intelligent analytics solutions with Emdeon’s PETABYTES of data.

Serving an area near and dear to my heart, Clinovations provides healthcare management consulting services to stakeholders at each link in the chain, from providers to payers and supporting trading partners – in areas from EMR implementation (and requisite clinical data standards) to market and vendor assessments, and data management activities throughout. With the dearth in qualified SME resources in the clinical data field, I look forward to learning about how Clinovations plans to manage their growth and retain key talent.

Who doesn’t love a great legacy decommissioning story? Mediquant proports adopting their DataArk product can result in an 80% reduction in legacy system costs through increased interoperability across disparate source systems and consolidated access. The “active archiving” solution allows for a centralized repository and consolidated accounting functions out of legacy data without continuing to operate (and support) the legacy system. Longitudinal clinical records? Yes, please!

Those are just a few on my must-see list, and I think Dr. Doug Fridsma would be proud of their vision, and find alignment to his ONC program goals. But will he be proud of their execution?

Can’t wait to find out, on the exhibit hall floor – and in the hallway conversations, and the client case study sessions, and the general scuttlebutt – at HIMSS!

Interoperability, Clinical Data, and The Greatest Generation

Written by: Mandi Bishop

As a healthcare IT zealot and wanna-be policy wonk, I find myself mired in acronyms, and surrounded (and indulged) by those who understand my rapid-fire Klingon-esque rants on BETOS and LOINC and HCPCS. The larger concepts of interoperability and meaningful use lose the forest for the trees of IHE standard definitions and specific quality measures. Have we lost sight of the vast majority of the healthcare consumers, and their level of understanding and awareness of those larger concepts? Could you explain HL7 ORUs or CCDs to your great-grandma?

I recently visited my 90 year-old grandparents, both remarkably healthy multiple cancer survivors who show no signs of slowing down, and have maintained enough mobility to continue bowling 3 times a week. After an evening of pinochle, my grandma asked me to please help her understand what it is that I DO for a living. We’ve had this conversation before.

“I’m a healthcare technology consultant, Grandma. I work with insurance companies and doctors to help them get all your information.”

Puzzled look.

“When you go to the doctor, Grandma, do they write anything down on paper, or are they using a computer when they talk to you?”

“Oh, they’re always on those computers! Tap-tap-tap. Every question I answer and they tap-tap-tap.”

She illustrates by typing on her lap, and I confirm that she’s a hunt-and-peck person. She stops only after I finish asking my next question.

“Do you have private insurance, or do you use the VA?”

“I have Blue Cross. Your grandpa uses the VA.”

“How many doctors did you have to see for your blood infection?”

“FOUR! Sometimes two in one day!”

“Did they all have to ask you for your history?”

“No – they already had it, on their computer. They even knew about my mastectomy, 30 years ago. One corrected me on the date; I’d thought it was only 20 years ago.”

“Well, Grandma, when you booked your appointment with the first doctor, their computer system automatically requested your medical records from your insurance company. And the insurance company automatically sent your records back to the computer. After the first doctor made notes on your visit, just after you walked out the door, the computer sent an updated copy of your medical records back to the insurance company, and it ordered the lab tests you needed before you went to the next doctor. Then, the lab automatically sent your results to the insurance company AND the doctor who ordered the tests.”

“But the other doctors had the test results.”

“Yes, ma’am. Each time you made an appointment with a new doctor, that doctor’s computer requested your medical records from the insurance company, and the insurance company sent out the most recently updated information. It only takes a minute!”

“Goodness. So, do you build the computer programs that make all that work?”

Eyes wide. THIS impresses her.

“No.”

Puzzled look again, so I quickly continue.

“But I make sure those computer programs can talk to each other, and that the insurance company can make sense out of what they’re saying.”

“Because if they couldn’t talk to each other, I’d have to haul a suitcase from doctor to doctor with my chart?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s called ‘interoperability’. There are new rules for how doctors’ computers should talk to each other, and to the insurance companies. And I get to work with the insurance company to do other really cool stuff. I take a look at LOTS of people’s medical records to find patterns that might help us catch diseases before they happen.”

“And what’s that called?”

“Clinical informatics. It’s my favorite thing to do, because I get to study lots and lots and LOTS of information. That’s called ‘big data’.”

“Sweetheart, you lost me with the computer words. But I’m just so happy you’re happy!”

She hugs me and grins, and I finally feel like I’ve found the right way to talk about my passion: through use cases. Although, Grandma would call them stories.

And there you have it: the importance of interoperability and clinical data, through the eyes of The Greatest Generation. Check in next year for an update on whether my definitions stuck!

Interoperability Needs Action, Not Talk – #HIMSS13 Blog Carnival

Written by: John Lynn

When you talk to people outside of healthcare about the value of healthcare IT, you will often get a response that healthcare IT is fantastic because it makes it so easy for medical data to be shared with who needs the data when they need it. Those of us in healthcare IT know that this is far from the reality of what’s possible with healthcare data today. This is really unfortunate, because the promise of technology in healthcare is to make the movement of data possible. We’re currently missing out on the benefits of this promise.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m sick and tired of hearing the excuses for why healthcare data can’t be shared. We’ve heard them all: privacy, security, data governance, payment model, etc etc etc. Yet we go to the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase and see that the technology to start sharing data is there, but what seems to be missing is the willpower to push the data sharing through despite the challenges and naysayers.

Maybe Farzad is on to something when he called for EHR vendors to do what’s “Moral and Right.” There’s no more moral or right thing someone can do in healthcare than to make healthcare data interoperable. It’s not only EHR vendors that need to do this, but hospital institutions and doctors offices as well.

We need some brave leaders in healthcare IT to step up and start sharing data. No, I don’t want an announcement at HIMSS that a healthcare organization has partnered with a vendor to start sharing data. I don’t want a new organization formed to assist with healthcare data sharing initiatives. I don’t need another book on the challenges of HIE. We don’t need a session on HIEs and data sharing standards. No, we need brave organizations that say that sharing healthcare data is the right thing to do and we’re making it happen.

I’m not suggesting an organization should do anything ruthless or reckless. I’m suggesting that healthcare organization start DOing something as opposed to talking about it. The time for talking is over and the time for DOing is here. Healthcare data interoperability won’t happen until we make this choice to DO instead of TALK.

I’m not even asking for a healthcare organization to start sharing all their healthcare data everywhere. In fact, I think that’s another failed interoperability strategy that we seem to keep trying over and over. If you try to solve all of our healthcare interoperability problems in one major project, you’ll end up doing nothing and solve none of the problems.

Instead a successful interoperability strategy will focus on sharing one meaningful piece of healthcare data while still keeping in mind that this is just the start. Connect the healthcare data end points with that one meaningful piece of data. Once you make that connection, others will start to wonder why that same process can’t be used for other important and valuable pieces of healthcare data. This is exactly the push that healthcare interoperability needs. We need departments and providers jealous of other departments and providers that are sharing their data. The same principle of jealousy can apply across institutions as well.

Yes, this will take a forward looking leader that’s willing to take what many in healthcare would consider a risk. Imagine a hospital CIO whose stuck trying to explain why their hospital is sharing data that will help doctors provide better care to their patients. Imagine a hospital CIO explaining why they’re driving healthcare costs down by lowering the number of duplicate tests that are done because they already have the data they need thanks to interoperable healthcare data. I’d hate for a hospital CEO to have to explain why they’ve reduced hospital readmissions because they shared the hospital data with a patient’s primary care doctor.

Maybe implementing interoperability in healthcare isn’t such a brave thing after all. In fact, it’s a brave thing for us not to be sharing data. Why aren’t we holding our healthcare institutions accountable for not sharing data that could save lives, lower costs, and improve healthcare? Why are we ok with non-profit institutions worrying more about profit than the real stakeholders their suppose to be serving? Are we really so far gone that healthcare organizations can’t do something so obvious: sharing healthcare data?

Think of all the other major healthcare initiatives that would benefit from being able to share healthcare data where it’s needed. Meaningful Use, Obamacare (Affordable Care Act if you prefer), Clinical and Business Intelligence, Mobile Health, ACO’s, population health, etc could all benefit from healthcare institutions that embraced interoperable healthcare data.

Who’s going to take the lead and start doing what we all know should be happening? It won’t happen by #HIMSS13, but over cocktails at HIMSS I hope some hospital CIOs, doctor groups, EHR vendors, and other medical providers come together to do what they know is the right thing to do as opposed to just talking about it.

The above blog post is my submission to the #HIMSS13 Blog Carnival.

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What’s Ahead After TEDMED 2013

HIMSS Analytics Clinical & BI Maturity Model

Bringing Long Term Care Into HIEs Without An EMR

The Marvelous Land of Oz: The HIMSS Interoperability Showcase

Will the CommonWell Health Alliance Change Interoperability? — #HITsm Discussion

CommonWell Health Alliance – The Healthcare Interoperability Enabler?

Interoperability, Clinical Data, and The Greatest Generation

Interoperability Needs Action, Not Talk – #HIMSS13 Blog Carnival

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