Physicians Practice - October 2008 - (Page 81)

TECHNOLOGY THE ROAD TO EMR INTEROPERABILITY BY SHIRLEY GRACE WITH NATIONWIDE EMR INTEROPERABILITY, PATIENT DATA WOULD ALWAYS BE ACCESSIBLE — EVEN IF A PATIENT GOES TO DIFFERENT DOCTORS IN DIFFERENT STATES. BUT WILL THE DREAM BECOME REALITY? About two-thirds of the world agrees that driving on the right side of the road is the, er, right side. But in times past, people generally took to the left. Why? Because if you are on the left, you can easily use your right hand to draw your sword against an approaching enemy, and you can mount your horse from the road shoulder, rather than in oncoming trafﬁc (and you won’t be impeded by your left-hanging sword either). That’s how many standards come about — need and practicality. In a perfect world, a standard achieves global adoption — everyone on the same side of the road, writing in the same direction across a page, or omitting the “u” from “color.” In reality, though, don’t plug your made-forAmerica hairdryer into a Brazilian IN SUMMARY Healthcare has not yet attained EMR interoperability, or the ability to transfer patient data across different EMR applications. • No vendor emerged early enough to dominate the marketplace, thereby setting the standard. • Many different healthcare IT-standards organizations are currently competing to establish “the” deﬁnitive word on interoperability. issue of interoperability. • Physicians can help shape the outlet without a converter, unless you like the smell of fried circuitry. Healthcare IT is no exception; standards will help pave the way to interoperability. However, lovely as that would be, in reality the interoperable wires are crossed, especially with electronic medical records, or EMRs. “The optimal goal is you walk into a cardiology practice and you bring your data in, the cardiologist plugs it in and away you go,” says Jon Bertman, a Hope Valley, R.I.-based family care physician who is also the creator and founder of Amazing Charts EMR. “That’s not here yet.” That’s for sure. A myriad of healthcare IT-standards development organizations are scurrying to put forward “the” last word on the subject. Any success? Some, in a fractured sense. The only real results so far are the acronyms — HL7, HIE, CCR, CCHIT, RHIO, among many, many others — that point toward the goal, but don’t quite get there. OCTOBER 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM 81 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - October 2008

Physicians Practice - October 2008 Contents Another Reason to Go Cash-Only? Letters How ’Bout Them Gas Prices? Second Opinion: Oh, Canada! Noteworthy Cover Story: Fixing the Leaks: How to Tighten Your Money Spigot Navigating a Lawsuit Ask the Experts The Administrators Desk: What’s Your Mission? EMR: Help or Hindrance? Dealing with Dr. Dangerous E-Mail Abuse Primer The Road to EMR Interoperability Don’t Let Staff Costs Stifle Profits Coding Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - October 2008

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