The language of interoperability

Mary Stevens, Editor

Last week, the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) called for a universal language for health IT standards, a single information-sharing infrastructure that facilitates data exchange among institutions. Such an infrastructure would help bring about “a transition from traditional EHRs to a more medically useful and secure system,” PCAST said.

The council recommended that CMS and ONC work together to develop this standards framework as soon as possible. Granted, “rapid development” is a relative term for most federal efforts, but a universal language may be long time coming.

Although nearly every organization involved in healthcare in any way knows there is glaring need for much more interoperability at every corner, such an infrastructure will require cooperation among vendors, state and federal agencies, healthcare providers, and payors. Even if all parties could agree on such a framework—including security measures—revamping systems already in use would be a huge challenge.

As this month’s two feature stories show, there is plenty of data exchange and standards work that are already well under way—would this new infrastructure build on these efforts?

The scope of device integration issues was highlighted by a HIMSS Analytics white paper released earlier this month. Use of vital signs monitors and other medical devices is widespread among the 825 U.S. hospitals that provided data on medical device utilization for the study. However, only a third of these hospitals are integrating data from such devices with their EMR.

The recent whitepaper found that intelligent medical device hubs and physiologic monitors are most likely to be interfaced to an EMR. At most hospitals, the sole method of connectivity between EMRs and devices was through a wireless LAN connection. The ability to chart data from the device directly to the EMR is a primary reason for creating the interface, reported the organizations that do have interface devices to their EMR.

Interoperability may also take a bottom-up approach. The growing demand for more connected care is one reason providers will harness the disruptive technologies highlighted in a report from CSC: “An ecosystem, armed with data and knowledge, will support more connected care and research collaboration…” Practitioners are likely to turn to “DIY” to integrate and interoperate if that’s the best alternative for right-now connectivity.

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Mary Stevens
Editor of CMIO
mstevens @trimedmedia.com