The biggest goal of interoperability is also its biggest headache: getting so many disparate software and medical device systems to transmit patient data accurately and reliably to electronic health records. By setting standards for how this is done, a pilot program by IHE USA and ICSA Labs hopes to do a few things. It aims to have a uniform set of expectations for how patient data is transmitted and received. It also aims to reduce the complex task hospitals have of identifying which systems to purchase by identifying companies that have proven interoperability standards.
The joint initiative between IHE USA and ICSA Labs — a testing arm of Verizon — has certified products from eight companies. They include: Baxter Healthcare, B. Braun Medical Inc., CareFusion, Corepoint Health, Greenway Medical Technologies, Hospira, InterSystems, and Masimo Corp.
In addition to interoperability, the program also evaluated clinical-document sharing, patient identification, audit logging and security. The program supports specifications from the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT. In the future, the IHE USA certification program will expand beyond traditional electronic health record systems to include domains such as patient-care devices, lab, radiology, cardiology, dentistry and eye care.
This fall, the certification program will start doing virtual testing where medical device and software companies transmit data to a network.
According to Joyce Sensmeier, president of IHE USA and vice president of informatics at HIMSS, the goal is to have 16 companies get certification for products next year. In about one year she envisions a similar program for mobile devices.
Helping medical devices share patient data with EHRs could save $30 billion. That was the conclusion of a study referenced by Dr Joe Smith, the chief medical officer for West Health Institute, in his testimony to a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health earlier this year.
How best to solve interoperability issues is something that hospitals have been grappling with ever since electronic medical records were introduced. One of the problems has been that even departments within hospitals may have different systems and face obstacles transmitting data effectively between them, let alone sharing information with other health systems.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
One way around that has been the Direct project — a scaled down program that helps hospitals that already have a working relationship transmit information securely.
