In an article for the World Economic Forum, Bruce Broussard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Humana Inc., shares three ways to tackle the Global Health Crisis. In this final installment, we focused on his third point, to “Achieve interoperability in a digital age”.
Interoperability has been a mainstay of EHR promises since the days leading up to the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). And while there are some “glimmers of hope”, true interoperability remains one dream of healthcare that still seems far away.
EHRs have led to effective interoperability within silos. That may seem like an oxymoron. But integrated delivery networks have done a good job of integrating workflows across different disciplines within their network. They also have greatly improved communication between themselves and payers. Lately, we have seen improvements to data handoffs during transitions of care, such as moving a patient from acute-care to post-acute, or to home-based services.
Interoperability is attainable
Gains in technology will help in this area. As Broussard notes:
Technology will keep disrupting care, but it won’t solve everything. By incorporating technology as an element of the holistic approach, one that is designed to address unhealthy behavior and social determinants at the intersection of health and lifestyle through personalized data, we can slow chronic disease progression across the world.
ISeeYouCare was founded on the premise that data must be accessible and must “follow the patient”. After all, the patient owns the data and the patient is the only entity in the care continuum that is mobile throughout his or her lifetime.
Standards exist today that enable interoperability to happen. Our platform rests on those foundations. We have developed a platform that achieves interoperability at a patient-level. This capability makes the data transparent, accessible, actionable and most-importantly, personal and portable. Learn more about our Personal Health Record here.
And contact us if you would like to learn more.