Dive Brief:
- The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is launching a campaign to promote the creation of an interoperable and connected emergency system.
- While sharing EMS data is challenging on many levels, including funding, proprietary systems and a lack of collaboration, ONC hopes EMS will become a full participant in the electronic exchange of health information, according to ONC analysts Kevin Horahan and Tara Holland.
- The project's first campaign focuses on the movement of health IT in a pre-hospital setting, which is often inadequate from a patient safety perspective, according to a February 2013 analysis of health IT related safety events by the ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization.
Dive Insight:
Right now, health IT data sharing between EMS and hospitals is limited, but ONC hopes to change that. If they are successful, the results could be very positive for patients. This interoperability won't come cheap, as EMS IT currently isn't from the same vendors as ambulatory or hospital IT. That being said, it's probably worth the trouble, as patients coming in with EMS are usually quite sick, and having ED staff ready with the data up front could make a world of difference.