The Next Generation of Interoperability: Rethinking EHRs

Electronic health records (EHRs) were supposed to transform the healthcare industry in the same way that digital technology has transformed the rest of our lives – organize and simplify. EHRs held the promise of easier access to patient health history, greater patient engagement, and improved clinical decision making and outcomes. The U.S. government jumped on board, developing regulations and financial incentives that would spurn rapid adoption. And yet, despite its potential, the implementation of electronic health records has proven to be just another industry headache. Doctors struggle with complicated and incompatible systems, patients lack adequate access to their own records, and vendors benefit from a stagnated, uncompetitive market that has allowed these problems to worsen. It is a broken system, but it can be fixed, with the tech industry’s penchant for disruptive innovation.

 It is easy to say that tech companies should swoop in and save the healthcare industry. However, with the failure of Google Health and Apple’s nascent entries, it’s clearly not that simple. Silicon Valley has succeeded in disrupting other industries by finding solutions to customer pain points. With physicians and patients suffering from complicated and walled systems, while at the same time extremely aware of the risks of leaked or stolen medical data, there is great opportunity for tech companies to develop unique and secure fixes that will benefit customers and reignite development in the digital healthcare arena.

Electronic medical records are currently locked away in walled gardens. These walls must be broken and records need to be readily, and securely, accessible to the approved parties. EHRs could work successfully as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms, where vendors and medical providers could severely cut installation and maintenance costs while offering greater compatibility and simplicity in design. Software portals that offer secure access to medical information to both providers and patients would provide an enormous benefit and fuel voluntary adoption. SaaS platforms are most successful with transaction-based business models. On top of the subscription fees that this new type of EHR would incur, access to the records can also be monetized and still be more cost-efficient than the current model. A SaaS health record system would be cost-effective, compatible, and ultimately serve the customers.

Currently, one patient can have countless identifying numbers associated with them, coming from different physicians, hospitals, and EHR vendors. It is a system that breeds data duplication and waste that only complicates workflow for medical providers. An industry-wide standard could be a solution, but there is no guarantee that a solution could even be agreed on, let alone implemented nationwide in a timely manner. Silicon Valley could assist by developing simpler, tech-centric approaches, with top industry influencers providing input. For instance, the development of a master patient index. An MPI can be successfully driven by a heuristic real-time matching algorithm, instead of a tackling what seems to be the insurmountable task of creating a single national patient identifier, and would simplify access to electronic health records even more. Combined with the proposed SaaS systems, you have a fresh approach to managing care.

Digital innovation could disrupt the healthcare industry and push electronic health records to their next evolution, but what form will they take? EHRs should behave more like a “clinical network”, built on member connectivity combined with automation of clinician workflow tasks. Lab tests, referrals, pre-authorizations, and results can be delivered instantly, retooling today’s overcomplicated systems with a more effective transactional marketplace. This simplifies physicians’ day-to-day activities, and collects data that can be aggregated into an electronic health record. Tapping into the success of social networking companies such as Facebook or LinkedIn, secure communication between physicians, patients, and the complete care team, built around these universal health records, offers an added layer of proactive care management that was previously unattainable. At the same time, implementing automated workflows perfected by complex consumer marketplaces like eBay and Amazon are destined to finally replace paper and fax-based processes. This clinical network pulls all of these elements together into a new kind of EHR, aimed specifically at simplifying health care for a new, tech-ready age, and built on the most advanced secure platform.

There is no reason why healthcare should be exempt from the digital innovations that has altered our world. There is both potential and a demand for more advanced and engaging ways to manage health. Unfortunately, the healthcare industry is too set in their old ways and current business model to really push innovation to where it should be. It’s time to disrupt the status quo and for digital health to finally grow up and take its medicine.

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Steve Yaskin is the CEO for Health Gorilla, a leader in digital health. Formerly the Founder of big data analytical companies Queplix and QueWeb, and a Lead Analyst for Pfizer, Warner Lambert, Johnson & Johnson, Independence Blue Cross, among others, Steve is a visionary entrepreneur that has a combined 15+ years of experience in founding and developing successful start-ups in cloud and data management fields.

(Image credit: FCW)