Posts Tagged Electronic Medical Records
The difference between interoperability and integration
Posted by Ken Bradley in Health Information Technology, Integration, Interoperability on November 23rd, 2009
“What’s so hard about interoperability, anyway? Lots of hospitals and physician practices already have integrated practice management (PM) and electronic medical record (EMR) systems…” That’s the kind of comment heard quite often in this business, from all manner of intelligent, informed professionals.
Unfortunately, an important matter of semantics sometimes unwittingly leads us to heated debate or a dismissive, “They don’t know what they’re talking about!” attitude. It’s imperative to be aware that discussions of “interoperability” and “integration” can easily leave people talking apples and oranges without ever knowing it.
Here’s the reason: People from so many disparate backgrounds – technological, clinical, business, regulatory, governmental – all play a role in the current push to better automate healthcare. Everyone understands the generalities behind the idea of one HIT system “talking” to another, but most folks have no need to delve into nitty-gritty technical specifics. As a result, “interoperability” and “integration” have become broad-brush terms many of us use synonymously as a way to express the general concept of data connectivity. Read the rest of this entry »
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Work begins on national e-health record network
Posted by Jim Denny in Interoperability on October 2nd, 2009
Here’s an article that will be of great interest to providers ramping up their healthcare IT efforts. While more and more practices and healthcare organizations are implementing various technologies like electronic medical records and billing systems, they often overlook the importance of interoperability. For reliance on technology to achieve optimal value, you must have enterprise-wide (and beyond) access to information that impacts both clinical and administrative operations. Take a look at the article that appeared recently in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as commentary added by the electronic health publication iHealthBeat entitled “Interoperability Issues Could Threaten Access to Health IT Incentives.”