Page 20 - Layout 1
P. 20
INNOVATIONS IN
MEDICAL PRACTICE
continued from page 19
public health agencies in monitoring disease prevalence and identify formation sharing is the impact on the patient. HIEs have the po-
‘hotspots” of clinical activities. In the future, HIEs can be a simple tential to provide patients value by offering a comprehensive patient
solution for providers to submit required patient information to the view through a single patient portal. When properly implemented,
many state agencies as well. this portal can become a venue for provider-patient communication,
patient education, and patient self-care. Each of these are critical
Once information is flowing, and a critical mass has been attained components of the previously mentioned MIPS reporting.
(HASA currently has over 3.5 million unique patients in its system),
the value of HIEs is limitless. The ongoing challenge, of cybersecurity Cost barriers to information sharing remain, both from the EMR
and safeguarding against inappropriate use, however, remains. Each provider and the HIE side. Data sharing in the next few years will
HIE operates within federal, state, and contractual guidelines to ad- take on multiple forms, from low-cost secure messaging (email in a
dress these challenges and most work with community advisory specific environment), to seamless data exchange between certain
groups on data security and other needs, to ensure that local owner- EMR vendors, to the more comprehensive interface-driven HIE op-
ship of this resource is acknowledged and sustained. tion. The latter having the greatest value to a physician.
While hospitals and health systems have been first to commit to The opportunity to deliver quality and cost-effective care to all pa-
this information exchange, physicians have been slower to adopt. tients is closer than ever and appears to have continuous support
Concerns about patient privacy, cost, workflow disruption and com- from the government. Timely patient information sharing in a secure
petition keep many clinics on the sideline. However, with the afore- way will greatly contribute to this ideal and allows physicians to go
mentioned reimbursement changes, they will soon need to come on back to what they do best; taking care of patients.
board as CMS (and likely, the commercial insurers) will continue to
insist on care transparency and care continuity. To accomplish that, 1 Health IT Data Summaries Web Application. (n.d.). Retrieved
data sharing is a critical component. February 07, 2017, from https://dashboard.healthit.gov/dash-
boards/health-information-technology-data-summaries.
An equally strong argument for physicians to engage in secure in- php?state=Texas&cat9=all%2Bdata#summary-data
20 San Antonio Medicine • September 2017
