How leading healthcare providers are strategically using interoperability to transform application-centric systems to a patient-centric infrastructure
Diversified healthcare services and specialisation across the patient care continuum are on the rise in Europe and throughout the world. Healthcare information technology has no choice but to follow suit by incorporating additional clinical and management applications into their infrastructure - even when the systems have dissimilar or incompatible architectures, technologies, communication methods or clinical structures (such as coding standards or protocols). If only integration were as simple as drawing a new box on the proverbial technology architecture diagram.
Further complicating matters, the science of orchestrating care across primary, secondary and social settings is becoming more information intensive. While governments and healthcare providers struggle with these challenges, some organisations have already taken major steps forward by implementing solutions that provide clinicians with relevant, real-time clinical information aggregated across treatment settings. Not only are the results impressive, but these organisations are succeeding by leveraging their existing system infrastructure.
Better coordination of patient care
With diversification, patients visit multiple facilities for testing, treatment, follow-up and other services. In this scenario, coordination of care becomes exponentially more difficult. However, with interoperability solutions that integrate and harmonise clinical information, such as the dbMotion™ Solution, patient hand-off across caregivers, diagnostic facilities and treatment settings flows smoothly.
Provider organisations are thus empowered with the ability to orchestrate clinical records better and more quickly.
Safer and more effective quality care
There is immeasurable value in the provision of meaningful clinical data to all relevant clinical staff in real time at the point of care. Decision-making based on harmonised data from sources outside the local system helps caregivers to be more effective, positions patients to receive better quality care tailored to their specific situation, and helps avoid problems related to medication interactions, allergies and infectious diseases.
More efficient use of society's resources
How much time do caregivers and their support staff waste searching for information directly related to a patient's care? The immediate and secure availability of meaningful information across primary and secondary care environments on a local, regional and national level offers compelling efficiencies in resources and manpower. Caregiver workflows are streamlined, unnecessary treatment delays are prevented, and duplicate testing is eliminated.
A successful strategy for today and tomorrow
An interoperability platform will increasingly be an essential element in any healthcare information exchange solution. It has been proven to meet the sophisticated challenges of safe, quality, patient-centric care in large, complex settings - while leveraging existing investments.
Until now, application-centric systems and manual activities have forced caregivers to focus inward - on compiling information, on aggregating data, and on dealing with the challenges of complex healthcare environments. By mediating these factors, the emphasis can be on value-added service and patient-focused care. With interoperability, caregivers have the right information, at the right time, so they can do what they do best.
Johan Hjord is Director of Sales, EMEA at dbMotion Ltd. This article is also available in the August 2008 edition of Hospital Information Technology Europe.