The ONC held a Health IT Policy Committee meeting Aug. 11 to discuss the state of interoperability across non-federal acute care hospitals.
Here are six updates on the state of interoperability amongst hospitals, based on ONC and American Hospital Association data.
1. In 2014, 96.9 percent of hospitals had a certified EHR.
2. In 2014, 76 percent of hospitals were able to exchange data with outside ambulatory care providers.
3. Nearly half of hospitals (48 percent) are able to find health data from outside sources. Seventy-eight percent of hospitals can send patient summary care record data, while 56 percent can receive that data. Forty-percent of hospitals can use that data. Nearly a quarter of hospitals (23 percent) can find, send, receive and use data.
4. Technical barriers to interoperability include:
• Exchange partners lacking EHRs or other systems to receive data: 59 percent
• Exchange partners' EHR systems lack data reception capabilities: 58 percent
• Difficultly finding provider address: 45 percent
• Difficulty matching or identifying patients: 24 percent
• Lacking capability to electronically receive data from outside sources:16 percent
• Lacking capability to electronically send data to outside sources: 10 percent
5. Operational barriers include:
• Cumbersome workflow issues: 30 percent
• Summary of care record sent not useful: 26 percent
• Not sharing data with outside providers: 10 percent
6. A quarter of hospitals report additional costs of exchanging data with outside providers as a financial barrier.