The annual HIMSS conference opened with a bang as opening keynote speaker Sylvia Mathews Burwell, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, announced a push for interoperability. Some of the nation’s top healthcare information technology developers and many of their customers have made a pledge to make it easier for patients to use the information in their EHRs. All-in-all, 17 vendors of EHR and other IT systems, who provided records systems for 90% of the hospitals in the United States, have made the commitment to push interoperability.
The participants pledged to do the following 3 things:
#1. They will help patients more easily access their electronic health information and transfer it to other providers or data-users
#2. They will help providers share individuals’ health information among each other and their patients whenever permitted by federal privacy laws
#3. They will implement federally recognized, national interoperability standards and practices and adopt best practices, including those related to privacy and security
Healthcare organizations such as Epic, Allscripts, Cerner, Ascension Health, Hospital Corporation of America, Kaiser Permanente, American Medical Association and American Health Information Management Association have taken the pledge. This commitment from health IT developers, providers and professional organizations is a critical first step and it will be interesting to watch the progress they can make in regards to interoperability.
If you are interested in talking about interoperability stop by booth #2871 – we would embrace the opportunity to talk to you about our real-world customer success stories. Check out our #HIMSS16 events and activities.
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