Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

Health IT Developers’ Pledge to Increase EHR Interoperability Met With Skepticism

By Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PHD, FACEP | on June 14, 2016 | 0 Comment
Features Opinion Technology
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version
Health IT Developers' Pledge to Increase EHR Interoperability Met With Skepticism
ILLUSTRATION/PAUL JUESTRICH; PHOTOs shutterstock.com

The English origins of the pudding proverb date back to the early 14th century. The tasting of an item was meant in the general sense to test or try something—to know how good a food item was, you had to taste it. The first version specifically using pudding was in 1605 from William Camden’s Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine. His version was,“All the proofe of a pudding, is in the eating.” Of course, back then pudding was not a sweet dessert but likely a savory sausage of meat and seasonings. If not cooked properly, it could have been fatal.

You Might Also Like
  • The Health IT Evolution—Has It Been Good or Bad?
  • ACEP4U: Update on ACEP’s Electronic Health Record Advocacy Efforts
  • Health Information Exchanges Can Reduce Utilization and Cut Costs
Explore This Issue
ACEP Now: Vol 35 – No 06 – June 2016

On Feb. 29, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that multiple major health information technology (IT) developers, providing more than 90 percent of U.S. electronic health records (EHRs), have pledged to improve interoperability of their EHR systems. Many other stakeholders, such as hospital systems and professional organizations, have also signed the pledge. HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced this wonderful pledge during the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society convention in Las Vegas.

Great, wonderful, exciting…
The three main points of the pledge are:

  1. Consumer Access: To help consumers easily and securely access their electronic health information, direct it to any desired location, learn how their information can be shared and used, and be assured that this information will be effectively and safely used to benefit their health and that of their community.
  2. No Information Blocking: To help providers share individuals’ health information for care with other providers and their patients whenever permitted by law, and not block electronic health information (defined as knowingly and unreasonably interfering with information sharing).
  3. Standards: To implement federally recognized national interoperability standards, policies, guidance, and practices for electronic health information, and adopt best practices including those related to privacy and security.1

Awesome!

However, before we taste this flavorful treat, let me simply state that the proof is in the pudding. Why my dose of healthy skepticism? How about vendor resistance, high fees for data exchange, lack of vendor incentives, and multiple EHR technical variations and challenges, to name just a few reasons?

Let’s look at some of the potential challenges in improving health IT interoperability. What about vendor resistance? If the data are locked into their system, they can charge high exchange fees. If their business model is based on information management and data exchange, why would they give away potential profit? Aside from governmental pressure and consumer demand, what is their incentive? How will it benefit their shareholders?

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Topics: EHRElectronic Health RecordHealth ITInteroperabilityPractice ManagementTechnology

Related

  • June 2025 News from the College

    June 5, 2025 - 1 Comment
  • Can This Patient Leave Against Medical Advice?

    March 10, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • Emergency Physicians of the Sandwich Generation Face Unique Challenges

    March 10, 2025 - 0 Comment

Current Issue

ACEP Now: July 2025

Download PDF

Read More

No Responses to “Health IT Developers’ Pledge to Increase EHR Interoperability Met With Skepticism”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603