The healthcare industry still struggles with interoperability challenges. To help determine such challenges and seek solutions, the Government Accountability Office interviewed nonfederal stakeholders about issues they face.
Here are the five key challenges related to EHR interoperability, as identified by nonfederal stakeholders.
1. Insufficiencies in interoperability standards. While standards for electronically exchanging information exist, stakeholders said they are not sufficient for achieving full interoperability. Some standard aren't specific enough and offer variety in how they can be implemented. If different systems are using different versions of standards, the standard itself becomes moot.
2. State privacy rules are varied. Privacy rules vary state to state, which presents an obstacle when trying to exchange medical records across state lines, according to the report. Additionally, when it comes to state laws related to patient consent of information, states are hesitant to exchange data because they lack the assurance that patients have consented to the sharing of data.
3. Accurately matching patient records. Patient matching presents an issue for interoperability because different systems use different demographic information to match individuals to their health records. Doing so may yield inaccurate results, as patients may have the same names, birthdates and ages. Then trying to corroborate identities between systems that use different demographic data is not possible because systems intake different data.
4. Prohibitive costs. System costs and legal fees can deter providers from achieving interoperability. Some EHR systems require multiple customized interfaces to work with other platforms, and providers have to pay the costs associated with building those interfaces.
5. Lack in governance and trust among entities.Establishing trust between entities that are needed to support interoperability was noted as a challenge, largely because agreements and organizational policies don't always align between parties.
More articles on interoperability:
Patients want interoperability, and here's how they want it: 6 key findings
Will we ever achieve interoperability? Not until there are incentives to do so
ONC seeks comments on 2016 Interoperability Standards Advisory