Kno2 and HEP were recently published by Healthcare Financial Management Association with their take on how COVID-19’s challenges were addressed by advancing data interoperability.  The article begins by explaining a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic has been improved interoperability in healthcare data sharing and that it may ultimately help improve the delivery of care as well as its cost effectiveness in the United States.

“Unlike previous stimuli to data sharing in healthcare, the pandemic forced all stakeholders to collaborate efficiently on solutions.”  When COVID-19 swept the nation, near term challenges for sharing patient data (like COVID test results) forced providers and their IT partners to “cast aside administrative conventions that historically impeded more effective data exchange”. Providers look to their existing IT capabilities to rapidly address immediate needs for improved data interoperability.

The article provides clear examples of this like electronic signature solutions like DocuSign (combined with Kno2’s DocuSign EHR Connector), which enable providers to take advantage of existing EHR interoperability tools, such as Direct Secure Messaging, through the DirectTrust™ network and quickly created a “closed-loop” electronic signing transaction.

These examples “should serve as a guidepost for how to solve data sharing challenges, drive efficiency and reduce costs, while improving the provider and patient experience”.

Featured use cases in improved data interoperability, and actions for CFOs:

  1. Transitions of Care/referrals
    Look for opportunities to digitize and streamline manual processes involved with patient referrals and transitions into and out of the hospital, like Automated EMS Workflows
  2. Orders and plans of care approvals
    Evaluate workflows and signing opportunities to move away from fax transactions and toward electronic signature workflows, as referenced above with Kno2’s DocuSign EHR Connector
  3. Record requests/release of information
    Encourage their organization’s participation in interoperability networks like Carequality and the CommonWell Health Alliance

“By leveraging current capabilities, augmented by readily accessible tools, providers can meet the growing demands related to more extensive data sharing and, in so doing, improve the accessibility and delivery of care.”

Read the full article here

Authors:
Therasa Bell, President & CTO, Kno2
Jessie Laurash, Vice President, Health Enterprise Partners