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HealthCare Information Systems Interoperability
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HealthCare Information Systems Interoperability
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), over
the years, has been the principal federal entity charged with supporting a nationwide health IT
infrastructure that allows for the electronic access and use of health information. Today, most
hospitals and health care providers have a digital footprint. Health information technology has
been enacted; which has made the handling of patient document to be computerized, which has
reduced patient waiting time because delays are shorter due to quicker data entry and more
efficient procedures, patients have a better health care experience because doctors easily enter
data and read information without taking much attention away from patients and patients may be
able to pay lower costs because of reduction in paperwork such as paper printing and postage.
Regardless of these advantages, financial, technical, and trust factors have impacted the
adoption of health information exchange technologies in most hospitals in America.
The financial factor that has impacted the adoption of health information exchange
technologies at the RHIO and NwHIN/NHIN levels is the high cost of developing,
implementing, and optimizing health IT to meet frequently changing requirements of health care
programs because of the lack of sufficient incentives for sharing information between health care
providers, the need for enhanced business models for secondary uses of data, and the current
business models for health systems or health care providers that do not adequately focus. Again
the adoption has been impacted by the lack of reimbursement for the exchange of health
information. According to Cures Act of 2016 (2016), The lack of reimbursement has led to a lack
of investment in the development and maintenance of health information exchange
infrastructure, which has, in turn, led to a lack of interoperability between different health
information systems.
The technical factor that has impacted the adoption of health information exchange
technologies is the lack of standards for the exchange of health information due to the lack of
standards development in the hospitals (clinical practice guidelines, treatment protocols, critical
paths, algorithms, standard operating procedures, or statements of expected health care
outcomes), low data quality, and patient and health care provider data matching which has led to
lack of interoperability between different health information systems, which has, in turn, led to a
lack of adoption of health information exchange technologies.
The trust factor that has impacted the adoption of health information exchange
technologies is the lack of data ownership and legal issues surrounding the exchange of health
information. Although cure act provided authority to penalize and deters information blocking,
The lack of data ownership and legal issues has led to a lack of adoption of health information
exchange technologies.
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The government's plan to overcome these barriers, according to Williams(2017) ).
Overcoming Barriers to Experience Benefits, it has to invest in the development of
interoperability standards so that patients can access their medical information with ease and also
the health care providers can easily receive, send, or analyze patents data, strengthening the
technical capabilities of health IT so that transfer of data can be transparent to promote
operational efficiency to lower care and administrative costs and to provide incentives for the
adoption of health information exchange technologies, to reduce time wastage so that health
service providers can get enough time to concentrate on their patients. The private sector's plan
to overcome these barriers is to invest in developing and adopting health information exchange
technologies.
If the government implements these plans to overcome the barriers, communication
between providers will improve by allowing them to share patient information electronically.
This can help to reduce errors and improve the quality of care. Also it will reduce the cost since
By sharing information electronically, providers can avoid duplication of services and reduce the
need for paper records. Finally, improving patient care is another benefit of the government
implementing the plans because providers can make more informed decisions about their care by
having access to a patient's medical history.
References
Perlin, J. (2016). Health information technology interoperability and use for better care and
evidence.7JAMA,7316(16), 1667-1668. Web.
Williams, K. S., Shah, G. H., Leider, J. P., & Gupta, A. (2017). Overcoming Barriers to
Experience Benefits: A Qualitative Analysis of Electronic Health Records and Health
Information Exchange Implementation in Local Health Departments.7EGEMS (Washington,
DC),75(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.5334/egems.216
