It’s been reported that the average health system manages 18 different electronic medical records (EMR) vendors. When you consider the path to interoperability, defined by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as “the secure exchange of electronic health information (EHI) with, and use of electronic health information from, other health information technology without special effort on the part of the user,” it’s easy to see how there can be foundational challenges given data residing across so many systems within an organization.
Data residing in more than one system, much less 18 of them, can result in siloed data not coming together to tell the full patient story. Patients have a right to see their full historical medical record when and where they need it. Providers need to access patient data across disparate data traps that inform the best care delivery at the right place and right time. In today’s world, siloed data remains a barrier to accessibility, equity and efficiency. A data archiving strategy helps mitigate these challenges and supports interoperability so the comprehensive patient story can be shared.
Archiving records that don’t exist in the active EMR is a practical path toward achieving interoperability for several reasons. Consider a large multihospital health system with various departmental EMRs in place. Access to comprehensive information from this multitude of disparate systems is challenging for physicians and patients. It’s inefficient, disjointed, costly and can put the health system at higher risk of a security breach as multiple applications and their infrastructure age over time.
By centralizing EHI from disparate legacy systems into an active archive that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), data can be secured and harmonized in a way that enables it for access by those who need it. This offers workflows for clinicians and the health information management (HIM) team, as well as interoperability with other systems and tools in the organization’s ecosystem. Archiving can also help with meeting data retention requirements, reducing the cost of vendor contracts and infrastructure and fortifying cybersecurity defenses.
How To Get Started
By creating a legacy data management plan and getting the right governance team at the table, archiving can be implemented in a way that minimizes disruption across the organization. It can also improve the quality of care and satisfaction of those involved, ensuring that clinicians and patients can access data when and where they need it.
