I think that anyone that is in this industry had to be struck by the story of ePatientDave pulling his medical history into Google Health (see my previous ePatientDave post). It’s not that we didn’t already know that it was a problem. I think that most in the medical industry know the problems associated with our data right now. However, I feel like we’re all (including myself) in a little bit of denial about this fact. The story of ePatientDave just painted a picture of how bad the data really is going to be.

The takeaway I have from ePatientDave’s experience is that we’re still a long way from having interoperable patient records. In fact, it makes my previous post about ICD-10 and EHR interoperability even more significant. Not to mention the need to simplify Health Information Exchanges.

Honestly, if we don’t simplify I’m not sure we’re going to get any of this healthcare data exchanged in my lifetime.