Methods to achieve Interoperability of EHRs
Importance of Interoperability in EHR's
Challenges of Interoperability and EHRs
- Lower likelihood of Healthcare data becoming fragmented.
- Maintaining evolution within the healthcare system from that of Paper Heath Information (PHI) to Electronic Health information (EHI) (Weber-Jahnke, Peyton, & Topaloglou, 2012).
- Important for the "continuum of care"
- Increased patient confidentially/privacy.
- Economic Sustainability
- Estimated total saving of $75 billion not calculating saving mad in clinical care (Walker et al. 2005).
- Improved use of healthcare data
- Healthcare data easier to gather
- Healthcare date more interoperable to healthcare professionals (Gheorghiu, & Hagens, 2016).
Integration of Interoperability Standards (Christodoulakis et al., 2017):
- Private and public sectors need to work together
- Standards are needed to combine different software solutions
- Initial cost is high, but overtime the total goes down
Three Strategies to Achieving Interoperability (Gresham, 2017):
- Patient-Centric Interoperability
- Interoperable Daily Operations
- Using Internet of Things (IoT) collaboration to help universal connectivity
- Physician and interface interaction is not always "smooth sailing".
- Only about 3/4 of all healthcare organization are currently using iEHR's (Christodoulakis et al., 2017)
- Poor design
- Current iEHR systems are said to focus more on patient billing, rather than the improving quality of care a person can receive (Christodoulakis et al., 2017)
- Initial system will need software or even hardware upgrade in order to keep up with the demands of users (Christodoulakis et al., 2017).
Challenges of Interoperability and EHRs Continued
Benefits of Interoperability and EHRs Continued
Limitations of EHRs (Menachemi & Collum, 2011):
- Financial barriers
- Changes in work protocol and routine
- Temporary loss of productivity due to adaptation to new routine (EHR)
- Privacy and security concerns:
“All the money spent on electronic health records has yielded only a fraction of the value of getting interoperability. It’s like giving everyone cellphones and not putting up a cell tower.” (Christodoulakis et al., 2017, pg. 4).
- High adoption rates of EHRs ≠ effective use of EHRs (Christodoulakis et al., 2017).
Improve EHR Implementation in Healthcare (Chang & Gupta, 2015):
- Improving Interoperability is key to improving EHR/EMR implementation.
- The interoperability of EMRs/EHRs is the rate-liming issue in attaining a merged EMR answer for Canada.
Conclusion
Interoperability and EHRs
- To Conclude:
- iEHRs that connect health services improve quality of care, patient safety, and organization (Canada Health Infoway, 2019).
- EHR interoperability is benefical, offers efficent and effective patient care and organziational benefits (Christodoulakis et al., 2017).
- Interoperability is needed for effective EHR adoption (Chang & Gupta, 2015).
- Interoperability is important for EHRs and providing quality care across Canada, and could save $75 B annually (Walker et al. 2005).
- Challenges of interoperability: cost of implementation, poor design, and lack of customization (Christodoulakis et al., 2017).
- Challenges of EHRs: finanical barriers, changes in work protocol, privacy and secruity concerns (Menachemi & Collum, 2011).
- Methods to achieve interoperability of EHRs: integration of interoperabiltiy standards; patient-centric interopability, interoperable daily operation, and using IoT for smart data exchange (Christodoulakis et al., 2017; Gresham, 2017),
- Interoperability is the “ability of different information systems, devices, and applications to access, exchange, integrate, and cooperatively use data in a coordinated manner, within and across organizational, regional and national boundaries, to provide timely and seamless portability of information and optimize the health of individuals and populations globally.” (Canada Health Infoway, 2019, para. 1).
- There are four levels of interoperability: foundational (level 1), structural (level 2), semantic (level 3), and “New” Organization (level 4) (Canada Health Infoway, 2019).
- An electronic health records (EHRs) is “the longitudinal integration of an individual’s health information collected over a period of time (from birth to death), residing within a computerized architecture.” (Abrams & Gibson, 2013, pg. 141).
- An interoperable electronic health record (iEHR) offers each Canadian with a secure and private record of their health record and care within the health system (Canada Health Infoway, 2019).
Benefits of Interoperability and EHRs
Credits
- iEHRs that connect clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and other sites help increase access to health services, improve the quality of care, patient safety, and help the health care system become more well-organized (Canada Health Infoway, 2019).
- Patient care benefits: EHR interoperability allows for more effective patient care and more efficient patient care (Christodoulakis et al., 2017).
- Organizational benefits: iEHRs allow for more effective ways to gather, store and share information, which will save money and time (Canada Health Infoway, 2019).
Credits
Slides 2-6: Patil
Slide 7-8: Noah
Slides 9-10: Kaya
Conclusion: Patil
Written editing: Patil
Creative editing: Noah
Voice-over: Noah
Creative input: Everyone
- What Is Interoperability ?
- Interoperability and EHRs
- Benefits
- Importance of Interoperability
- Challenges/Limitations
- Methods of Achieving Interoperability w/ EHRs
- Conclusion
- Credits
- References
References
Image source: https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vectors/teacher-agenda-vectors
References
Abrams, K. J., & Gibson, C. J. (Eds.). (2013). Fundamentals of health information management (2nd ed.). Ottawa, ON: Canadian Healthcare Association.
Canada Health Infoway. (2019). Interoperable EHRs. https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/solutions/digital-health-foundation/electronic-health-records/interoperable-ehr
Christodoulakis, C., Asgarian, A., & Easterbrook, S. (2017). Barriers to adoption of information technology in healthcare. CASCON, 66-75. Retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Barriers-to-adoption-of-information-technology-in-Christodoulakis-Asgarian/79ea0d9daf0963daa676d27948a0da871f499c8e
Chang, F., & Gupta, N. (2015). Progress in electronic medical record adoption in Canada. Canadian Family Physician, 61(12), 1076–1084. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677946/
Gheorghiu, B., & Hagens, S. (2016). Measuring interoperable EHR adoption and maturity: A canadian example. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 16(1), 8. doi:10.1186/s12911-016-0247-x
Gresham, J. (2017). 3 Ways Health Care Organizations Can Advance Interoperability. Retrieved from https://www.cerner.com/blog/three-ways-health-care-organizations-can-advance-interoperability.
HIMSS. (2019). What is Interoperability?. Retrieved from https://www.himss.org/library/interoperability-standards/what-is-interoperability
Menachemi, N., & Collum, T. H. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 4, 47-55. doi: 10.2147/rmhp.s12985
Weber-Jahnke, J., Peyton, L., & Topaloglou, T. (2012). eHealth system interoperability.Information Systems Frontiers, 14(1), 1-3. doi:10.1007/s10796-011-9319-8
Interoperability of Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
Kayatheri Parameswaran (#100655162), Noah McHardy (#100626518), and Patil Mksyartinian (100500816)