More than 20 billion health data transactions were exchanged between doctors, pharmacies, health plans, and other care organizations over the course of 2021, helping millions of people stay up to date with their standard care, get vaccinated, and receive the treatment they needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This exchange of information was supported by seamless interoperability and accurate electronic health records, allowing providers to deliver better, safer and more cost-effective care throughout this public health crisis.
To explore the topic of interoperability and its current function in healthcare, Digital Journal connected with Mike Pritts, Chief Product Officer of Surescripts, a leader in nationwide health intelligence sharing. We spoke about how the company partnered with healthcare organizations during the pandemic to deliver a comprehensive view of patient care when and where it was needed most.
Digital Journal: What is interoperability, and why is it so important in healthcare?
Mike Pritts: Interoperability enables information to flow across systems in a way that allows healthcare professionals to share and access it anytime, anywhere. This movement of information is critical for clinicians to ensure that patient history is readily available – because when it is out of reach or out of sight, patient health is ultimately what’s at risk. Incomplete clinical information can interfere with diagnosis, unseen medications can cause adverse drug events, and issues in accessing patient data needed for administrative tasks can ultimately delay care. Beyond the clinical impact, interoperability gaps were also named the second-highest barrier to value-based care in a 2019 survey of healthcare leaders. Without tools to track incentivized care activities and avoid low-value or duplicative ones, value-based care will remain a far-off goal for many organizations.
DJ: Why is there such concern about interoperability in healthcare? Isn’t technology all caught up?
Pritts: As the COVID-19 pandemic incurs new information-sharing demands among more players across the healthcare industry, the need for interoperability becomes more urgent every day. Current demands on care providers have substantially evolved alongside technology. The tools designed to help clinicians – like Electronic Health Records (EHRs) – take time to develop and implement, especially at a time when healthcare organizations are already stretched for staff, time and resources. Despite this, we are seeing the use of technology increase across the board, as many physicians and pharmacists realize that when properly implemented, these tools give back critical time in their day to focus on patient care, rather than paperwork.
DJ: What kinds of technology are doctors and pharmacists using more today because of COVID-19?
Pritts: Whether providing care directly to patients or supporting the front lines of COVID-19 from behind the scenes, healthcare professionals have made use of shared electronic health information in entirely new ways in recent years to improve patient care. In 2021, health systems across the Surescripts Network Alliance mobilized to use an existing tool—Clinical Direct Messaging—to meet the new demands of sharing information about case reports and immunizations electronically. This solution helped to keep public health agencies and primary care providers informed throughout the course of the year. 17.8 million COVID-19 electronic case reports (a +200% increase) were sent to 66 public health jurisdictions, and 21 million vaccine notifications were delivered to primary care providers, including 16 million for COVID-19 vaccinations. Additionally, our Record Locator and Exchange tools saw an increase of 44% and our Medication History service delivered 2.36 billion patient histories in 2021, compared to just 1.08 billion in 2016.
DJ: So, what needs to change?
Pritts: While interoperability is not the only answer to our problems, it is essential to ensure that healthcare providers have the information they need to provide better care. For it to succeed, technology must be used consistently by a majority of medical professionals, and progress must be measurable.
To achieve this, the federal government is working with private industry to make the secure and seamless exchange of electronic health information nationwide a reality. Launched in January 2022, the Trusted Exchange Framework & Common Agreement (TEFCA) was born out of the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 to promote nationwide interoperability by providing the infrastructure to help health information networks securely share clinical data.
While there is still work to be done, this represents an important step forward for the entire industry. The future of our healthcare system will be defined by the standards we set around how data is exchanged. By updating inefficient technology with connected solutions that align with patient care, health systems, pharmacies and public health agencies alike can more seamlessly respond to the significant disruptions facing the healthcare industry and society at large.
