It goes without saying that electronic medical records is a hot topic in healthcare technology. We are often asked, “What does Perficient do in electronic medical records?” While Perficient does not provide EMR or EHR solutions, interoperability should be top of mind as more and more records become electronic. This is what I was thinking when I wrote “Could EMR Software be Detrimental to Healthcare?” You can find an abstract from the white paper below, or you can download it on our System Interoperability page. You can also read about HL7 Interoperability to become more acquainted with what I call the “digital nervous system” of healthcare information technology.
Electronic medical record (EMR) adoption is being pursued in hope that social and economic benefits will be received through the reduction of information silos in medical record data. Unfortunately, without interoperability (the ability of two or more components, applications or systems to exchange and use information) EMR adoption will only further strengthen the information silos that exist in today’s paper-based medical files. This will result in even greater proprietary control over health information and, with it, control over patients themselves, which will greatly limit the innovative promise of future healthcare systems. Public efforts to support adoption of EMRs that are not interoperable are questionable, since standalone EMRs might not increase the healthcare consumer’s welfare. In contrast, EMR adoption enhanced by interoperable information will increase consumers’ welfare through increased choice, portability and control.
