Healthcare IT News - July 2008 - (Page 9)

www.HealthcareITNews.com July 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News o m m n t r y Data sharing: Next logical step Newsmaker interview By LorraIne Fernandes, Initiate Systems, Inc. between facilities – hospitals, clinics, labs, physician practices, etc. – is the next logical step for the healthcare industry. Providing accurate patient data via enterprise master person index (emPI) solutions and the linking of common patients delivers some very significant benefits, with the primary goal being increased patient safety and better care. However, emPIs provide additional benefits that favorably impact the economics of “some think operating a healthcare orgapatient data nization while simultaneously helping increase patient exchange will be and physician satisfaction. cost- or timeWith such strong motivaprohibitive.” tors, why aren’t more organizations implementing solutions that allow patient data exchange between acute and ambulatory facilities? Some think that patient data exchange will be cost or time prohibitive, or too disruptive to the day-to-day operations of their existing technology infrastructure. others are concerned that patient data can’t be shared privately or securely amongst disparate groups. the truth is that emPI solutions can be deployed quickly and efficiently – within a few months – without disrupting existing systems and without the perceived challenges many have feared. technologies exist today that allow healthcare organizations to accomplish the safety, satisfaction and revenue goals of their acute and ambulatory facilities, while considering data security and privacy regulations. ntegrating patient data I to complete records might even spare patients expensive redundant tests and the associated expense. the expectation of shared patient data for healthcare organizations that operate acute and ambulatory facilities is even greater, leaving some organizations struggling to meet patient expectations. In some cases, these organizations are marketing themselves as caring, connected members of a community, but then can’t provide patient data to caregivers at the branded imaging center, affiliated physicians’ offices or hospital that are only a few miles apart. Patients are baffled that they have to repeatedly recite their personal information at multiple facilities owned by the same company. Lorraine Fernandes How would you best define SOA, especially in connection with healthcare? I see Service-oriented architecture (Soa) as a set of business-driven architectural design principles that represent business functionality as implementation-neutral, standards-based, distributed, looselycoupled, and re-usable services. Soa enables the healthcare ecosystem to be more agile and to respond more quickly to changing business needs. What percentage of hospitals, health Shamlan Siddiqi systems, physician practices and clinics employ SOA today? Healthcare organizations lead the way in the adoption of Soa, and the rate of adoption is directly proportional to the number of employees within that organization. For example, physician practices and hospitals are slower in adopting the full value of Soa because while they are starting to build distributed systems using standards and Web services, they are not necessarily driving the full value of Soa and have yet to mature their Soa investments. this can be said about many other organizations embarking on the Soa journey as well. What can those organizations do that they could not do without SOA? many healthcare organizations have disparate It systems, components and operate independent of each other. For example, patient data in the inpatient system cannot be accessed by the doctors in the ambulatory care system, typically a nurses station is not shaMlan sIddIqI linked to outpatient clinics ■ Senior Enterprise/Solutions to receive updated patient Architect at Keane, Inc. information, and adverse ■ Leads the delivery of business event data is not disseminatand technical solutions to clients ed to the FDa and beyond in at all levels of the enterprise. a timely and efficient man■ Completed several complex SOA ner, additionally, problems projects. sIddIqI see page 10 physIcIan satIsfactIon Key In addition to patients, healthcare organizations must also focus on maintaining physician satisfaction, as well as other key clinical professions, especially since finding and retaining skilled resources is becoming increasingly difficult. organizations must be attentive to physician satisfaction to avoid having doctors switch their primary point of practice and affiliations. exchanging patient data between acute and ambulatory care facilities is one way that healthcare organizations can help maintain high physician satisfaction levels. this helps physicians keep their own patients satisfied and reduce patient turnover. creating an interoperable environment between the physician’s practice and the hospital allows doctors and their staffs to more efficiently treat patients and provide better overall care. MeetIng patIent expectatIons today’s healthcare patient expects their complete, endto-end patient record to be available at any point of service, regardless of where they receive care. When data is integrated or exchanged safely and securely within and outside a delivery network, patient satisfaction can be markedly improved: patients receive the care they need, when they need it, without inconvenience or any additional stress that might impact their current illness. access InteroperabIlIty boosts econoMIcs It makes sense –more efficient doctors and care staffs can see more patients in a given day, generating more revenue. every day significant time is wasted trying to find relevant documentation about patients. Integrated patient data can provide physicians with more time to interact with patients and enable them to see more patients each day, Fernandes see page 10 Would you post your records on Google Health? no “I was invited by the cleveland clinic to participate in the pilot program they offered to their mychart patients. I received an invitation but I could not in good faith turn over my medical records to a company that just wants to make searches easier for me. I can ‘Google’ heartburn on my own and find the information that I’m looking for.” – Penny Black University Hospitals of Cleveland “With all the work regarding privacy, security and establishing standards for the PHr by well known health information organizations, such as aHIma, HImSS, the e-Health Initiative, I am not real confident that Google Health has put enough research into a PHr. I am also not confident that Google Health would be secure and private.” – Cynthia Norling PrimeWest Health Alexandria, Minn. “Google’s presence in healthcare is nascent. the healthvault idea is not novel. When it was discussed after Katrina during roundtable discussions by top healthcare foundations, the concept was not to limit it to Google and microsoft. there was a more profound model that was originally discussed. consumer/patient privacy needs must be used to design and develop data escrow services, as well as the service governance. the Google/mS service offering is incomplete and thus should it fail, could taint other initiatives that have been well thought out and in motion for some time.” – Jukka Valkonen, exec. director, Enterprise Architecture, Kaiser Permanente Oakland, Calif. news I’m not the least bit worried about it. I am investigating how to upload my hospital data into my personal record.” – Michael Kelly, Director, Information Systems Adirondack Medical Center Saranac Lake, N.Y. “I already have my information posted in iHealth and I understand that is one of the sources for Google. I have no doubt Google will continue to work on its security because the have to and, no matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement. I am very confident in their ability and applaud their efforts.” – Alan Whitehouse Oconee Regional Medical Center Milledgeville, Ga. “I am reasonably confident that my data would stay private, and I am reasonably confident that my health data I posted there would not be too detrimental to me if it were breached. healthcare It newsMonItor q Would you post your own medical records on Google Health? 680 reader responses 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 60% 40% MoNitor no yes yes To take future surveys, subscribe to our enewsletter, HealtHcareItNewsweek, or visit us daily on the Web at HealthcareITNews.com. “It’s so incredibly simple for an individual to decide whether or not to post his/her own data, versus the complex tangle of regulations that come into play when providers want to do the same thing. Why not put the patient in the driver’s seat? and yes, I have started my own PHr on Google, and I would probably not post absolutely everything.” – Blair McKee Alverno Information Services Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Beech Grove, Ind. http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com

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Healthcare IT News - July 2008 Contents IT’s Financial Link eRx Power SOA Q&A Bent on Wireless Digital Switch IT Legacy Change Agent Panasonic 'Book' Taking a Shift Computer Types

Healthcare IT News - July 2008

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