Interoperability is valuable in time-sensitive industries like healthcare. However, it is hard to ensure this, especially if the coordinating institutions already have systems in place. In the spring of 2020, though, after years of discussions on standards, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), together with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Healthcare IT, issued rules on interoperability.
Interoperability gains will help the technological infrastructure of the healthcare system as a whole and eventually ensure better healthcare. However, they are not the only consideration for success. Here are a few non-technology factors that affect interoperability.
The Organization’s Overall Interoperability Strategy
As with any new project, it is vital to get all stakeholders on the same page. The organization must discuss its strategy and resources and identify which personnel have experience in implementing interoperability and which do not. Interoperability strategies would provide internal benefits like more data points on patients and external ones like the ability to explain to outsiders what the system is doing to ensure interoperability.
The Vision, Including Expected Returns
When an organization implements interoperability, it essentially undergoes a massive overhaul. Expectation-setting and top-down championship is vital in the first phases of implementation. Leaders should know how to communicate the organization’s current interoperability capacity and where it should be. The leaders should share how they plan to get to this desired state, and this initiative’s possible return on investment. They should state the ROI in specific terms; for example, they should share that they hope to see a five percent decrease in readmissions if the initiative succeeds.
Workflows And Specific Use Cases
Better healthcare also stems from knowing what already works. Organizations should also review all the types of ADT events for which they have workflows and system interactions. All types of clinical use cases and data exchanges are essential for determining the best way to structure a medical facility’s interoperability strategy.
Data Collection And Reporting
Aside from workflows, facilities should also have a standardized method for data collection and reporting. Quality data is the linchpin for a robust interoperability system. When your data is clean, meaningful, and understandable, you ensure that it is useful to medical professionals and patients alike.
Differentiation For Aspiring Industry Leaders
Compliance is mandatory in the ONC and CMS interoperability rules. However, there is nothing that says facilities and organizations must limit themselves to it. Pursuing excellence in interoperability is a chance for a medical system to distinguish itself as a leader in patient-centric healthcare. Interoperability provides healthcare systems a way to streamline their operations and be more effective at administering care. At the heart of it, though, it should be patient-centric. Once a system optimizes itself for interoperability, it can concentrate on differentiating its services and being the best in the field.
Conclusion
The ONS and CMS’s interoperability requirements provide plenty of short-term benefits. Some of the most significant include better care coordination, safeguarding patient privacy, ensuring greater patient safety, and better healthcare. In the long term, interoperability will result in higher productivity, accurate public health data, and reduced costs for institutions.
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