The Importance of Interoperability in EHRs
In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, interoperability is essential to physicians as it enables them to take proactive measures with patients’ care. With interoperable systems, physicians can use the information from various devices to gain knowledge about their patients’ current health state and take on preventive focus with their treatments. Having the data transferred immediately to their fingertips provides them with time to make better-informed decisions about their patients’ care and indicate any alarming or potential issues in their health. Once a concern is raised, physicians can take the appropriate measures to provide an intervention and alter their patients’ care plans to meet their needs. Proactively treating patients rather than providing care to them once their health has declined can foster benefits that lead to ideal health outcomes, increase care coordination, and save costs for the healthcare system. Improving access to patient data allows healthcare providers to prioritize focusing on managing their patients’ health and providing exceptional care.
According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), there are different levels of interoperability. The first level is foundational interoperability, in which two systems can receive and send information. The second level is structural interoperability, where the structure and organization of the data are defined. Semantic interoperability, the third level, allows individuals to understand the data exchanged. The fourth level, organizational interoperability, is the communication and use of data within and across organizations. Interoperability is a vital component in electronic health records (EHRs) as it enables healthcare providers to receive the appropriate information about their patients’ records and remain informed about their health conditions. EHRs play a significant role in healthcare because they enable healthcare providers to view patient information whenever needed. In addition, EHRs help physicians to communicate with patients and empower them to take an active role in their treatments. EHR systems allow physicians to improve care coordination by efficiently sharing information with all the healthcare providers overseeing a patient’s care. This helps to reduce time spent on administrative tasks and enable physicians to focus on enhancing patient care quality. Therefore, having an interoperable EHR assists physicians in delivering patient-centered care by equipping them with data insights to effectively manage their patients’ health.
Interoperable EHRs Addressing the Chronic Disease Burden
In the U.S., there is a health crisis on the rise due to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases becoming the leading cause of mortality and disability. Chronic diseases affect an individual’s long-term health and have a severe impact on their quality of life. Some examples of the most common types of chronic diseases include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancer. Chronic conditions can lead to consequences, such as elevating the risk for other diseases and physical limitations, which can affect a person’s ability to work and enjoy life. Although the cases of chronic diseases are expected to increase in the future, it emphasizes the need and demand for effective chronic care management (CCM). The main goal of CCM is to improve the quality of life of individuals living with chronic conditions. Taking proactive measures with the patient’s care can help to reduce their health risks and monitor their conditions. Many healthcare providers recognize that interoperability is a key player in providing access to essential information about chronic conditions since it equips them with a comprehensive view of their patients’ current health state. The data allows them to take immediate action with their patients’ care when a health risk is identified.
Effective proactive care management requires healthcare providers to receive the correct information about the patient’s health at the right time for early intervention. Identifying the early warning signs of a patient’s health can allow physicians to improve their conditions. For example, remote patient monitoring (RPM) is crucial for managing chronic conditions and preventing complications. RPM uses wearable devices, such as blood glucose meters and blood pressure monitors, to help observe patients’ chronic conditions outside of a traditional clinical setting. Healthcare providers need patient vitals delivered to them in real-time to see if their health is stable. Any abnormalities would be detected and notified to physicians right away so that they can react to it, preventing the patient’s condition from worsening. Timing is vital in healthcare as it enables physicians to prevent the patients’ health from declining, especially if they have long-term or life-threatening health diseases. EHRs being able to deliver the data from wearable devices to the right healthcare providers allows them to provide high-quality care to their patients and obtain optimal health outcomes.
Barriers Affecting Patients’ Access to Healthcare
With concerns about the rising costs of healthcare, many individuals are unable to seek out the assistance they need to improve their health and quality of life because they cannot pay for it. According to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), in 2022, approximately half of adults in America reported that they were struggling to afford healthcare costs. Delays in seeking out treatments for health conditions, such as chronic diseases, can cause an individual’s health to deteriorate, leading to worse health outcomes. For example, people who have elevated blood sugar levels and are not receiving care to help manage their condition can result in damaged blood vessels, heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, and death. Due to the U.S. healthcare system being overwhelmed with the increasing demand for chronic diseases, it is unable to provide quality care promptly to the public. Ultimately, physicians need solutions that can provide them with the information to take proactive measures and ensure their patients’ health is stable while making healthcare accessible.
Transforming Healthcare Delivery Through Proactive Care
Proactive healthcare empowers physicians to focus on preventing their patients’ chronic conditions from progressing and delivering interventions when it is necessary. This allows healthcare providers to take on a cost-effective approach by reducing the use of expensive services, ensuring that patients improve their health outcomes, and saving costs. In addition, physicians using RPM and CCM solutions to manage their patients’ chronic conditions encourage them to take a proactive role in their care as well. Patients actively involved in their treatments become more aware of their diseases and follow healthier behaviors to alleviate the negative impacts of their conditions. This promotes self-management practices which ensure that patients are following their care instructions and prevents them from being at risk of other chronic conditions. Having physicians equipped with knowledge about their patient’s chronic conditions can encourage them to actively mitigate the threats affecting their health.
Achieve Healthcare Excellence with EHR Interoperability and Proactive Care Delivery
Physicians leveraging digital health technology to improve interoperability and unlock proactive care can address current healthcare challenges. By prioritizing EHR interoperability, healthcare providers can ensure they can efficiently meet the needs of their patients. Some additional benefits of interoperability and proactive care:
- Increases Patient Engagement: Interoperable EHR systems and proactive care can empower patients to be involved throughout their healthcare journeys. Using patient portals, physicians can provide patients with access to their health information. This can help to keep patients engaged in their care plans, increase adherence to treatments, and make informed decisions about their health. Improving patient engagement leads to health literacy and higher overall satisfaction with the care experience.
- Enhances Management of Chronic Diseases: With EHR exchanging data with different systems and technology, physicians can acquire the information they need to take proactive measures with their patient’s care. For example, RPM technology allows for early detection of potential health issues and timely medical responses. Therefore, it helps physicians to effectively monitor chronic conditions which improves the quality of life of patients and expands their access to healthcare.
- Improving Patient Outcomes and Care Quality: Obtaining comprehensive patient data through EHR systems leads to better clinical outcomes. Interoperability enables coordinated care by sharing patient data across multiple platforms and organizations. This coordination allows healthcare providers to intervene with the patient’s care and personalize their treatment plans to meet their needs. Having access to patient information assists physicians in making better decisions regarding their patients’ health which can help to prevent them from experiencing adverse outcomes.
- Reducing Costs in Healthcare: Interoperability and proactive care can help lower costs in healthcare by preventing unnecessary use of emergency departments and acute care. Furthermore, integrating devices and platforms into an interoperable EHR system can assist clinics in efficiently using their resources by remotely providing care to patients. Using a telehealth platform that is connected to an EHR can benefit patients as well by overcoming geographic boundaries to save their time and money spent on traveling. Overall, this not only drives cost-savings for healthcare providers but also improves the patient experience by reducing wait times and ensuring timely care.
MDLand Can Help Your Practice with Interoperability and Proactive Care
Interoperability is vital to revolutionizing healthcare delivery, increasing care coordination, and identifying risk factors affecting patients’ health. An interoperable EHR system can optimize clinical workflows and information-sharing, allowing physicians to become proactive. MDLand’s iClinic® EHR is designed to meet the needs of physicians and support their practices to achieve success by providing them with patient data at the right time. Learn more about iClinic® by scheduling a demo.