Health IT, Patient Engagement

Vendors, providers agree on interoperability, consumer access

HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced this agreement Monday evening during the HIMSS16 opening keynote session in Las Vegas. Yes, Epic is one of the vendors on board.

Burwell HIMSS16

The nation’s five largest private healthcare systems, plus vendors providing 90 percent of all electronic health records to U.S. hospitals, have agreed to provide wider consumer access to health data, avoid information blocking and adopt federally recognized interoperability standards.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced this agreement Monday evening during the HIMSS16 opening keynote session in Las Vegas.

In all, 17 health IT companies — including bitter rivals Epic Systems and Cerner — signed the interoperability pledge that went live at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time. Among the 16 provider groups to make the pledge include Kaiser Permanente, Hospital Corp. of America, Tenet Healthcare and Catholic Health Initiatives. Also joining were more than a dozen interested organizations, including HIMSS, the American Hospital Association and the Sequoia Project.

“We must demand interoperability,” Burwell said during her keynote. “We have to work together to unblock data.”

Burwell added that individuals should be able to understand how their data can be shared and used, and control the movement. “Data moving should be private and secure,” she said.

She also said that everyone in health IT has to “speak the same language.”

It may not be enough. One of the pledging providers, the Premier hospital alliance called for more action at the federal level.

“Healthcare providers’ ability to manage integrated, holistic care delivery demands IT systems that can talk to one another and help us deliver increased efficiency, accuracy and improved outcomes,” Premier Senior Vice President Blair Childs said in an e-mailed statement.

“While the pledge is a positive statement of commitment, we continue to believe that legislation is important. We support a public rating system of vendors’ technology based on its performance on outcomes measures of usability, functionality and interoperability. We also support the granting authority to investigate and fine vendors who engage in information blocking,” Childs added.

Others are optimistic, though. “While we’ve made considerable progress digitizing the industry, we must overcome some significant barriers that impede information sharing and prevent us from realizing the full benefits of health IT,” said Russell Branzell, president and CEO of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. “Through this pledge, CHIME and its members strengthen their resolve to transform the nation’s delivery system and improve patient care.”

Photo: Twitter user Intel Health

 

 

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