Dive Brief:
- Chilmark Research released its 2017 Clinical Network Management Market Trends Report, a 35-page overview of solutions to improve health data interoperability.
- The report makes a case for leaving health data closer to their origins and making data available to a variety of applications and users via APIs that support HIPAA-compliant access.
- “This approach not only represents a better way to accomplish development and integration goals, it is necessary for successful value-based healthcare,” the report says.
Dive Insight:
According to the report, released Tuesday, fewer companies are offering clinical network management (CNM) solutions. Those that do have shifted from a “build it and they will come” approach to “can it help and at what cost,” it says. Provider organizations will develop CMN capability if it supports broader business or clinical goals such as accountable care organizations, quality improvement programs, population health management or referrals management.
CMS’ emphasis on advanced payment models will push providers to invest in technology that enhances data interoperability and enables coordinated care in disparate provider networks, according to the report.
With mergers and more hospitals forming partnerships, the need for networks to be able to communicate with one another is greater than ever. EHR vendors both large and small are signaling they support more open platforms for data sharing and offering solutions that allow that.
According to the American Hospital Association, only 23% of hospitals in 2014 could use their EHR to find, send, receive and use electronic data. A report the following year by the General Accountability Office cited a number of barriers to interoperability, including insufficient health data standards, differences in state privacy laws and difficulty matching patients’ health records.
But there are signs interoperability is improving. According to nonprofit association DirectTrust, healthcare organizations exchanged more than 98 million messages using its Direct interoperability services in 2016 — more than 33.5 million in the fourth quarter alone. Moreover, the number of trusted Direct addresses capable of sharing patient’s health data grew 24%, to more than 1.36 million by year’s end.
Still, many believe widespread standards are needed for interoperability to really take off.