From implementation to interoperation

Interoperability has been the buzz term for the past couple months as the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT focuses on publishing its interoperability roadmap and other groups discuss the best way to achieve seamless information exchange.

Now that the majority of providers have implemented EHRs, it's time to get those systems linking to each other. Speaking at the recent Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Innovation Initiative policy forum, John Hammergren, chairman, president and CEO of McKesson, said that interoperability is the most important thing to achieve to “get to where we need to go. We will not accomplish our mission if we cannot share the data.” He asked the audience to imagine a cell phone that only connected to the caller’s own service provider.

Citing McKesson’s participation in the CommonWell Alliance, Hammergren said it is a group of organizations that fundamentally understand the issue of connectivity at a granular level. “We’ve been trying to put a patchwork together of code hospital by hospital and physician by physician. The cost associated with that patchwork of interfaces is unsustainable. There’s a tremendous cost burden.”

He also said he looks forward to a more informed, educated and engaged consumer helping the industry transform the delivery system.

IT is the critical fuel to “help us transform and bend the cost curve. We have a tremendous opportunity before us. This is the most important time in healthcare.”

I think we'll see a lot more activity on this front in 2015.

Beth Walsh

Clinical Innovation + Technology editor