Meaningful Use to drive Interconnectivity in Health care

The Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee began meeting June 16 to discuss the definition of “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs). From this initial meeting, the committee released objectives to further define “meaningful use”. Among the objectives are the following requirements:

• Use CPOE for all order types including medications
• Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically
• Provide patients with an electronic copy or electronic access to clinical information such as lab results, problem lists, medication lists and allergies
• Exchange key clinical information among providers of care
• Submit electronic data to immunization registries where required and accepted
• Provide electronic submissions of reportable lab results to public health agencies
• Provide electronic surveillance data to public health agencies according to applicable law and practice

A common thread of future interconnectivity in the health care industry is woven into each objective. In the current system, technology is built around “silos of information” where each silo is unable to communicate to another.

Providers, hospitals, medical centers suffer financially because of the time and money that is wasted due to inefficiencies in such a fractured system. As patients, we have accepted the consequential inconveniences such as receiving prescriptions by paper, picking up or faxing medical records to new doctors, and receiving unplanned invoices after a visit.

In order for the health care industry to move forward successfully, it must do so as a whole unit rather than individual silos. If all the silos are interconnected, it will greatly increase the efficiency at which health care transactions are processed and will reduce unnecessary expenditures – improvements that will benefit health care providers and patients. The HIT Policy Committee’s decisions will be the catalyst to drive this interconnectivity that is needed to provide true value.