Surveys Confirm Lack of Interoperability Continues to Frustrate Physicians

95% of Doctors: Data Barriers Have Interfered With Healthcare

A recent national physician survey of nearly 3,000 physicians revealed that 95% of physicians have experienced a delay or difficulty delivering medical care because patients’ health records were not easily accessible or shared. The study found only 14% of physicians can actually access electronic health information across all care settings. Given the nearly unanimous frustration over the lack of healthcare interoperability across the care continuum, 61% of physicians gave the health care industry a failing grade (D or F) for achieving interoperability. Only 14% gave it a B or higher.

http://hitconsultant.net/2015/04/17/healthcare-interoperability-gets-failing-grade/

“This survey confirms what we hear anecdotally from providers every day,” said healthcare cloud applications executive Jonathan Bush – which is that “in health care, we can capture and store data electronically, but we fail miserably at sharing it across the care continuum.”

Interoperability Is Critically Important – The survey also revealed that 4 of 5 doctors believe that a high level of interoperability between different healthcare organizations was critically important – just as vital as personal data security and patient engagement.

Problems Exist Even Within The Same Facility – According to physician expectations, the level and quality of Information flow between various devices and care settings, even within the same facility, is unacceptable. A stunning 44% of doctors said that they cannot share patient data with another doctor operating in the same location.

Most Common Data Problems – Doctors said that prescription drug records are the most common types of data to contain errors or omissions. The other top two problematic data categories are lab readings and medical images.

Resistance to Sharing – Even thought it runs counter to what many providers say out loud, there is still resistance to sharing healthcare data with appropriate requestors. This reluctance is rooted both in security concerns as well as the notion that that information is a valuable proprietary asset.

Better interoperability, both inside and outside of your healthcare organization can not only improve patient outcomes, but also, increase efficiency, saving you time and money. The ultra-secure, HIPAA complaint HealthDATA™ Cloud Computing Platform can greatly increase interoperability at a cost that is right for your budget.

Cloud service providers and their clients are choosing technologies that put patients first, so that their health records are accessible from any device with an Internet connection – regardless the medical records software that is installed. It isn’t enough for an organization to idly claim that it is in favor of interoperability or to get certifications that verify the strength of infrastructural mechanisms. Instead, IT providers must do everything that they can to make systems interoperable throughout healthcare.

With the only healthcare-exclusive cloud in the world, doctors experience industry-leading interoperability to allow compliant access from anywhere. The push to interoperability that is possible with a healthcare-exclusive cloud https://www.cleardata.com/solutions/healthdata-platform/ can help companies get access to data without barriers, making patient health the ultimate priority.

4 in 5 doctors: interoperability is critically important

The survey also revealed the following:

What’s holding us back? Almost 9 in 10 doctors (87%) said that problems with the health records themselves represented the biggest hindrance to data integration.

“[O]bstacles established by EHR vendors and by hospital/health systems were also highly cited,” commented Jasmine Pennic of HIT Consultant.

How critical is interoperability? Almost 4 in 5 doctors (79%) said that broad, comprehensive patient records access was extremely critical, just as vital as personal data security and patient engagement – the latter topic discussed below.

Is data flowing better between professionals? Information flow between various devices and care settings is unacceptable, according to physician expectations. However, it’s not just different systems that are a problem. A stunning 44% of doctors said that they cannot share patient data with another doctor operating in the same facility.

What exactly is wrong? Doctors said that the type of data that is most commonly erroneous or contains omissions when feeding in from another health system is prescription drug data. The other top two problematic data categories are lab readings and medical images.

Everyone wants interoperability, but healthcare companies want to do it right. No one wants to sacrifice compliance or security by using a standard public cloud. Instead, organizations choose a specialized healthcare cloud https://www.cleardata.com/solutions/healthdata-platform/ so that PHI can be safeguarded while interoperability is achieved.

Patient engagement also a critical role of cloud

A recent report by health insurance company Coventry highlighted patient engagement as a critical component of healthcare – with reference to patient compliance.

The whitepaper, published by claimsjournal.com suggests in May 2015, stated that patients are often noncompliant with doctor instructions, particularly related to pharmaceutical drugs. Approximately 15 to 20% of patients refill medications, the study found. Out of that group, just half actually take the pills.

“When the prescription is for a lifestyle change – such as weight loss, smoking cessation or exercise – compliance is even worse,” said the report.

Part of the issue is that the notion of compliance seems to suggest that the patient is not playing an active role. Patients today are more interested in taking part in their recovery than simply being directed by an expert. With that in mind, many healthcare outfits are transitioning from a patient compliance approach to a patient engagement approach.

Optimizing interoperability and patient engagement

Both interoperability and patient engagement are integrated into the general mission of healthcare and are fundamentally built into the third platform of computing. Featuring technologies such as cloud and mobile, the third platform has fueled the rise of the Internet of Things, a booming field for which healthcare writer Jennifer Bresnick has listed http://healthitanalytics.com/news/five-core-competencies-for-the-healthcare-internet-of-things engagement and interoperability both as “core competencies.”

Want to make your doctors happy? Get interoperable. Want to make your patients happy? Get them engaged. Both can be achieved through the world’s only healthcare-exclusive cloud https://www.cleardata.com/solutions/healthdata-platform/.