EHR, A Look into 2011

As I look into 2011 I always think that it is a good idea to take a quick look back into 2010 for just a moment. In 2010 we had Meaningful Use Criteria defined and a consolidation of quite a few vendors in our Industry. We have seen the start of REC’s and a huge increase in the number of providers accessing an EMR either by their own purchase or by the affiliation of some other entity.

We now have a payment mechanism in place to have providers paid for not only purchasing their EHR but also using it. In the first phase of meaningful use we adopted a series of standards that enables people to create a clinical summary that not only can the patient read, but it’s in a machine-readable format that conveys that information as well and enables it to be used for decision support and other methods that benefit the patient.

The HITECH Act didn’t focus much on technology, but on the outcomes. I believe that we will need to adopt the technology in a much better way that will support the provider. In 2011 it will be a big year for technology as it relates to interoperability (Meaningful Use Criteria) and the witnessing of how our first year of incentive payments go.

The next few years will be interesting to see how many physicians get off the fence and purchase an EHR but also have successful implementations and start documentation. Adoption of EHR does not mean purchasing - it means actually using the product!

Scalability will need to be addressed and Team Work with all invested in the community will need to be the order of the day. There will be a lot of discussion about “the Next Generation of clinical documentation architecture, and standards”. Without standards and Team Work we will fail.

Open architecture will need to truly become open. I believe that we will get better with providing real solutions in the form of a platform that enables focused collaboration, and gives the industry tools and resources and direction so the market can come up with solutions and provides innovation.

It is my opinion the industry will start developing in 2011 a much better EHR. It will be easier to use and easier to implement. EHR’s have been focused on the business side of information and I believe that we will see a shift towards providing content that will focus on information about best treatments, best medications, etc. and real interoperability at prices that all can afford and access.

Connectivity and Security will be the big topics for 2011. In 2011 we will see a huge push towards Accountable care organizations and medical homes. Both of these areas will change and explode in 2011. I also believe that we will see a push to utilize social media platforms that can be utilized to support an individual’s health. I would caution that we all take a moment to really verify that we are developing, utilizing and securing our data. This is a time when we will all need to make sure that each and every one of us and our families are protected.

Millions of patients are at risk for medical and financial identity fraud due to inadequate information security, Information security in the healthcare industry is at the peak of economic, technological, and regulatory influence and, to date, it has not demonstrated an ability to adapt to meet the resulting challenges – but it must.

The reputation and well-being of those organizations upon which we rely to practice the healing arts depends on it. I would like to say that as a contributor and participant in this Industry, I feel that we are all very lucky to be involved in this wonderful area of our nation’s health and growth.

I have never seen such a time for us all to make an impact and truly help with how our future medical information is handled and processed.