The ability for hospitals to send and receive electronic information from other care providers – also known as interoperability – is critical to advancing health in America. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology hospitals are making  adopting electronic medical records. ONC released a survey relaying data from the IT Supplement to AHA’s Annual Survey showing that last year 84% of America’s hospitals had adopted a basic electronic health record – up from just 9% in 2008. Data also show that 92% of hospitals let patients view their health information online. At the same time, ONC reports that, while over 85% of hospitals now electronically share key clinical information with other hospitals, only 65% are receiving data and just 38% are able to use and integrate that data into care. Clearly, real challenges to information sharing and interoperability remain for many providers. Our goal is data sharing that supports improved patient care and helps coordinate that care across all health care settings. The AHA’s interoperability advisory group is identifying policies and strategies to keep moving us forward. But we also need concrete actions that result in greater collaboration across the private and public sectors to achieve greater interoperability.

Related News Articles

Headline
The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and international agencies July 29 released a joint advisory on recent tactics by the Scattered…
Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 30 announced the creation of a “digital health ecosystem” that includes partnerships with health care…
Chairperson's File
Public
The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring big changes to health care. AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack joined me for a Leadership Dialogue…
Headline
Microsoft July 22 released an update on the ongoing cyberattacks to SharePoint servers used within organizations, attributing the incidents to China-based…
Headline
The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center…
Headline
Microsoft July 19 issued an alert about active attacks from vulnerabilities targeting SharePoint servers used within organizations. The incidents have not…