'Providers across the country are sharing critical information to coordinate patient care.'
Thirteen of the nation's major healthcare systems are one step closer to interoperability, after they are now able to electronically share health records with disparate EHRs upon signing on to the country's largest health information network.
National HIE network Surescripts announced this week that these 13 big name health systems can now exchange clinical messages with more than 100 health systems that joined the network this year. Already 971 hospitals have signed on and are able to utilize clinical messaging capabilities. This represents more than 18 percent of all staffed beds across the country, officials pointed out.
Geisinger, Mount Sinai Health System, the 25-hospital Texas Health Resources and Vanderbilt University Medical Center were among those to join the network this year.
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"There is no question that healthcare is going digital – the progress we've made is proof that providers across the country are sharing critical information to coordinate patient care," said Tom Skelton, chief executive officer of Surescripts, in a Sept. 23 press statement. "With proven network technology and established relationships across the healthcare economy, Surescripts is uniquely positioned to unleash the full potential of American healthcare to improve quality while saving precious time and resources."
"Connecting to the Surescripts network reinforces our commitment to provide our patients the best care possible," added Robert Molina, MD, chief medical informatics officer of Valley Medical Center, in a statement. "The ability to communicate easily and efficiently with our care partners ensures that all of our physicians and healthcare providers will be armed with the right information at the right time to make informed and collaborative care decisions."
More and more healthcare organizations have been calling on the federal government to move forward with interoperability standards, highlighting interoperability as the one thing missing to the EHR Incentive Programs. Despite hospitals adopting electronic health records, they argue, they're still disparate systems incapable of talking to each other.
Just last week, chief information officers and IT leaders from across the country went to Capitol Hill and were very clear what they were looking for.
"It does all come down to these fundamental standards," said Marc Probst, CIO at Intermountain Healthcare. "If we want to be able to move data from one system to another, you know, technically that isn't all that hard. …the hard part is actually doing it and making that decision."
