Interoperability trials and tribulations

Beth Walsh, Editor, CMIO

Interoperability continues its slow but steady trudge forward with a few hiccups back. The latest steps forward include a rise in EHR adoption rate among primary care providers from 20 percent to nearly 40 percent since 2009, according to Farzad Mostashari, MD, national coordinator for health IT; and the announcement that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) will advance the growth and spread of health information exchange (HIE) by specifying the next layer of core standards and policies this year. One small step in place, if not backward, is the three-month delay in enforcement action against any entity that is required to comply with the HIPAA Version 5010 transaction sets.

The 5010 delay was called “enforcement discretion” and a way for the Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) to address the issues that are impeding full implementation. The office also expects that transition statistics will reach 98 percent industrywide by the end of the enforcement discretion period.

Meanwhile, Mostashari said that adoption rates are currently the best way to measure the ONC’s success. The presence of health IT isn’t the point; positive outcomes are. Regarding meaningful use, he said, “2012 is really when it’s going to be kicking in, as providers and hospitals want to maximize their incentive payments. We are actually now implementing and moving forward on meaningful use of EHRs and information exchange.”

A recent survey, however, of more than 700 healthcare providers found that 42 percent are currently using EHRs and 39 percent had no plans to implement Stage 1 of meaningful use. One-third of respondents said that budgetary concerns were the largest obstacle to sharing information electronically and 21 percent said it was changing technology requirements.

Another survey found, for the first time in more than a decade, staffing shortages overtook concerns over lack of adequate financial support as the No. 1 barrier to implementing IT in this year’s 23rd annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) leadership survey. Clinical application support topped the IT staffing needs list, followed by network and architecture support, clinical informatics, system integration, IT security, clinical transformation, database administration, PC and server support, process and workflow and system design/implementation.

What challenges are impacting your information exchange and interoperability efforts?

Beth Walsh
CMIO Editor
bwalsh@trimedmedia.com