If it seems like healthcare has spent years talking about the need for better access to data, that’s because it has. This year especially, healthcare data interoperability has yet again taken center stage with the White House’s announcement on the Health Technology Ecosystem, CMS’s release of the HTI-4 final rule, and most recently the reinvigorated interest in enforcing information blocking. And don’t forget about Epic’s UGM announcements, Oracle’s new EHR, and just a little bit of excitement about AI.
It is a good thing to have continued conversations on how we can make it easier for providers to take care of patients and for patients to have access to their healthcare data. Plainly stated, this is necessary to improve outcomes and help people live healthier, recover faster, and live longer.
Integrations are happening with the help of standards like HL7 and FHIR, and policies like the 21st Century Cures Act. Access to data has improved and more data is available through standards-based API calls, regardless of the EHR vendor. Even so, this is just one piece of the puzzle. With the new clarity on how companies access the data, the gaps in true workflow integration and support are even more visible.
Beyond Data: The Human Element
A recent panel at Health Datapalooza provided a perfect example through an anecdote delivered by Najma Abdullahi, a patient and governing board member for Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC). Najma’s grandmother speaks Somali, and as such, this is listed in her patient record. Her grandmother recently received education content through the patient portal that was written in Somali. Why is that a problem? Because while she speaks the language, she does not read or write Somali, so she was unable to engage with the information.
Her preferred language was listed in the EHR, but the data alone doesn’t allow you to know the best way to deliver valuable health information to her. This is a perfect example of where data alone falls short and how important it is to design the right workflows.
The Current State of Integration
Our VP of Partnerships and Strategy Paige Stocks joined Arcadia’s Aneesh Chopra, HTD Health’s Ryan Tucker and UCSF Division of Clinical Informatics and Digital Transformation (DoC-IT)’s Ben Rosner, MD, PhD on stage to discuss the current state of interoperability in the session, titled “Playing Well Together? Opportunities and Challenges for API-Based Integration with EHRs.”
EHRs are the digital center of care and hold the source of truth with patient records. Integration into them is critical for digital health programs to be adopted and scale in ways that strengthen the bond between medical care teams and their patients. This link makes it possible for them to use familiar technologies while connecting through remote monitoring, virtual visits, and sharing information back and forth with each other as part of their daily routines.
The ease and quality of integration into EHR systems is non-negotiable for supporting clinicians and their patients. Various EHR vendors offer different integration classifications, making it difficult to know where you belong. The good news is that we hear from our vendor partners that this is easier now than in years past.
However, this data will never deliver on its promise without further consideration for workflow and implementation. Digital health vendors must be prepared to:
Understand the data landscape. Know what data you need and where it can be found in the EHR, including the limitations of that data. Not all information is created equal, and understanding these nuances is crucial for effective implementation.
Master EHR mechanics. Understand the mechanisms in each EHR to surface solutions to both providers and patients. This knowledge is critical to achieving adoption and ensuring your solution integrates seamlessly into existing workflows.
Design workflows collaboratively. Partner with provider customers for workflow design and implementation. Come prepared with the right questions to help customers work with internal stakeholders and navigate EHR documentation requirements.
Provide ongoing support. Partner closely with provider customers and EHR vendors to quickly investigate and resolve any issues during implementation and go-live. The relationship doesn’t end at deployment.
The Future of Connected Care
Integration is an area we take personally. Our health system customers are closing care gaps, keeping patients loyal to the health system, meeting value-based care goals, and saving hours of clinical time. We understand that integration will always mean more than just the data.
Xealth has successfully connected nearly 100 digital health partners, including The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, Glooko, Medline, MedBridge, Omada, Twistle, Babyscripts, Welldoc, Force, ResMed, SilverCloud, Healthwise, Elsevier, Emmi, and Krames. Nearly 30 health systems, including Advocate, Banner, Children’s Wisconsin, ChristianaCare, Duke, Northern Light, Providence, and UPMC, use our digital health platform to reach more than 6 million patients with more than 27 million orders.
This level of experience has us looking forward to future opportunities to expand the connected healthcare ecosystem, bringing in wearable devices and leveraging AI. As an industry, we talk about ways AI can help on the clinical side. AI can also be incredibly helpful behind the scenes with integration, automating routine tasks and freeing up resources for more meaningful innovation.
Shaping the Future Together
Looking at ways that policy can assist, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has partnered with the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP, formerly the ONC) for a national survey focused on digital health companies and their experience with APIs integrating with EHRs. We encourage you to pre-register and help shape federal digital health policy.
Events like Health Datapalooza and national surveys offer the chance to be part of conversations shaping the future of healthcare. As we create more sophisticated digital connections between providers and patients, we know how critical it is to align innovation with policy and look forward to building a more meaningfully connected future.