Diverse health IT partnerships are critical to interoperability
As managed care leaders, better care for patients can be achieved through increased medical data exchange through diverse and collaborative organization involvement.
According to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), hospitals have
to exchange information with providers outside their organization. Only 41% of hospitals had that ability in 2008 and 76% could do so in 2014. Unfortunately this growing hospital capacity is not equally matched among primary care providers or in post-acute care. Significant barriers to interoperability remain in those care settings, creating uneven access to data across the continuum.
AsnaaniWhile many providers cite the need for costly interfaces as their foremost obstacle, a potpourri of hurdles hinder the care coordination needed to transition U.S. healthcare from volume to value. That potpourri is too multidimensional for the hospital industry or any single sector to tackle alone. Diverse health IT partnerships are needed to promote a free-flowing data exchange that includes the patient and all members of the care team.
Managed care has long seen the value of providing care through community and home-based services that are less costly and more convenient for individuals. But those services must be linked in a way that facilitates access to accurate, timely health information.
We all know that health is predominantly determined by social circumstances and activities that occur outside any health care institution-especially outside a hospital. If we are to influence those activities and truly participate in population health, we must engage individuals in their own health and we must stop thinking of health IT as the exclusive purview of healthcare institutions.