The Human Side of Interoperability

There has not been a more important time for the role of health information (HI) professionals in making healthcare interoperability a reality.

At its core, interoperability is the ability of different information systems, devices, and applications to access, exchange, integrate, and cooperatively use healthcare data in a coordinated way. Healthcare interoperability is happening in places already, and even more efforts are in the works. All of these efforts are striving to get us to nationwide healthcare interoperability.

What is the goal? In its simplest form, it is to provide timely and seamless access to information that can optimize health outcomes and improve patient care. But often, the work we do can feel separate from real people and real experiences. Put yourself in the shoes of a daughter or son who feels helpless because the information they need is not easily accessed … then consider the work we do.

For example, let me tell you about my dad.

He’s 75 years old and lives in Nevada. That’s roughly 1,700 miles away from where I live in southeastern Wisconsin. He has nine different physicians. That’s nine different offices he calls to get on their schedule and nine different experts telling him what to do. At appointments, he’ll get out his iPhone and take a picture of what the doctor gave him that day and text it to me. I do my best to piece it all together.

I’m trying to advocate for him and help manage his care six states away—without easy access to a concise medical record or a discharge report with relevant essential facts. My dad is my best friend, my strongest supporter, and my biggest fan. I owe it to him to make sure that he understands how he can comfortably live as long of a life as possible. And I know my experience is not unique. I’ve heard from many of you with very similar stories.

So how do we navigate this new future? How do we achieve greater interoperability and get our patients’ information into their hands or those of their providers, caregivers, and advocates?

On all of our behalf, AHIMA is leading the way in these efforts. AHIMA’s Position Paper on this topic documents its support of the use of policy to promote a technically, functionally, and semantically interoperable healthcare system. HI professionals have extensive knowledge and expertise to contribute to the development of these policies around interoperability in healthcare.

To make the strides needed to strengthen interoperability within healthcare, public policy must:

• Improve standardization of health data to support interoperability;
• Support technologies that advance the bidirectional sharing of patients’ health data;
• Promote incentives for electronic health information sharing across all healthcare settings;
• Promote and/or incentivize data sharing among external reporting systems, including clinical and public health systems, registries, and health information exchanges; and
• Prioritize privacy and security.

To realize the benefits of improved interoperability, certain barriers must also be addressed, including:

• Lack of a national strategy on patient identification;
• Lack of consistent technical and content standards among clinical data capture systems;
• Cost of health IT implementation and adoption of new technologies; and
• Privacy and security challenges.

There is much work to be done. I’m sure you’ve heard the proverb, “Many hands make light work.” Said another way, this “job” of interoperability becomes easier as more people help and get involved.

AHIMA needs you. Our patients need you. And my dad needs you.

Thank you for making a difference in all that you do.

Jennifer Mueller, MBA, RHIA, SHIMMS, FACHE, FAHIMA is the president/chair of AHIMA. She is the vice president and privacy officer at the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center (WHAIC).