Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

"Data is the currency of the next century," says Brian Ahier. And nowhere are health data and data management processes discussed, analyzed and examined more than at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition.

Acknowledgement of the value of interoperability – and the desire to implement it – are seemingly widespread in healthcare. So why is the industry still so short of achieving it?

Health and Human Services policies supporting value-based purchasing rely upon interoperability and HIEs. The day-long pre-conference event will focus on coordinating these to create a learning health system.

Digital Health Solutions, a startup launched by two Indiana University School of Medicine professionals, is commercializing software it says will help pediatricians better target care for their patients.

As more and more hospitals implement IG initiatives, the biggest upside is proving to be the money they save, according to AHIMA director of information governance Ann Meehan.

The path to interoperability has been a circuitous one over the past 13 years, veering off in directions that weren't anticipated when the concept became an industry-wide initiative in 2004.

The funding will help integrate PMP data into provider and pharmacist clinical workflow, using NarxCare technology developed by Kentucky-based Appriss, which will connect the state's PMP to provider and pharmacy EHRs.

The health IT giant is focusing its $700 million R&D budget on EMR usability, interoperability, revenue cycle management, population health. 

The new initiative aims to takes the guesswork out readiness, articulating threats, mapping them to CSF controls and giving healthcare organizations a blueprint for better cybersecurity posture.

EHRs have become an integral part of healthcare delivery, but there is a sense that they aren't fulfilling their enormous potential as conduits for personal health information, patient diagnostics, point-of-care decision support and more.