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Put your ear to the ground and you’ll hear it: a swell of conversation from chief medical information officers (CMIOs) and other healthcare executives about interoperability and data sharing between acute and ambulatory care facilities. Listen a little longer and you’ll also hear the swell across the parking lot between hospitals and physician offices.

The talks are increasing because integrating patient data between facilities – hospitals, clinics, labs, physician practices, etc. – is becoming a top priority. Executives know that interoperability across the healthcare spectrum delivers some very significant benefits, with the primary goal being increased patient safety and better care. These leaders also understand that using accurate patient data integration via an enterprise master person index (EMPI) solution to meet this goal also provides additional benefits. By reducing duplicate registrations and creating real-time linkages between patient records at both acute and ambulatory facilities, an EMPI can simultaneously help increase patient and physician satisfaction while potentially positively impacting the economics of operating a healthcare organization.

With such strong motivators, why aren’t more organizations implementing solutions that allow patient data exchange between acute and ambulatory facilities?

Many healthcare executives know that acute and ambulatory interoperability is the logical next step for the healthcare industry, but they also think that such a solution will be cost or time prohibitive, or too disruptive to the day-to-day operations of their existing technology infrastructure. Some have concerns that patient data can’t be shared privately or securely amongst groups that are not owned by the same entity, such as hospitals and private physician practices.

The truth is that there are EMPI solutions that can be deployed quickly and efficiently – within a few months – without disrupting existing systems. Technologies exist today that will allow executives to accomplish the safety, satisfaction and revenue goals within their healthcare organizations and even outside of their walled boundaries, while keeping data secure and helping meet privacy regulations. CMIOs are even learning that implementing EMPI technologies does not have to be as challenging as some have feared.

Meeting Patient Expectations to Improve Satisfaction

Much like bank customers demand access to their account information from every touchpoint within the banking network, healthcare patients have the same expectations. Whether patients are at the hospital, a lab or their primary care physician’s office, they expect their complete, end-to-end patient record to be available at the point of service.

Focusing on data interoperability between acute and ambulatory facilities can help dramatically improve patient satisfaction. Imagine the loyalty a patient will feel toward a healthcare provider when visiting a hospital to see a specialist who is able to electronically and securely access complete care records from the primary care physician’s office. The patient can receive the care she needs, when she needs it, without frustration, inconvenience or any additional stress that might impact her current illness. Convenient access to accurate and complete patient records might even spare her a redundant test and the associated expense.

For large healthcare systems that own and operate both acute and ambulatory care facilities, the expectation of providing integrated patient data is even higher, leaving some organizations struggling to meet patient demands. In some cases, the healthcare system is already marketing itself as a caring member of a community that knows the residents personally, but its patient data is in silos and isn’t available to care givers at the branded imaging center, affiliated physicians’ offices or hospital that are only a few miles apart. Patients walk away baffled that they have to repeatedly recite their personal information at multiple facilities owned by the same company.

When data is integrated or exchanged, safely and securely, within and outside a delivery network, patient satisfaction can be markedly improved and healthcare organizations can retain customers.

Physician Satisfaction is Equally Important

In addition to patients, healthcare organizations must also focus on maintaining physician satisfaction. The healthcare industry is approaching an era where finding and retaining skilled resources – specialists, technicians and primary care physicians – is increasingly difficult. These organizations must respond by being more attentive to physician satisfaction so they can avoid having doctors switch their primary point of practice and affiliations.

Exchanging patient data between acute and ambulatory care facilities may be one way that healthcare organizations can help maintain high physician satisfaction levels. For starters, shared patient data helps physicians keep their own patient satisfaction levels high and reduces turnover in their patient base. Breaking down the walls between physician practices and the hospital to create an interoperable environment allows physicians and their staffs to more efficiently treat patients and provide better overall care. In addition, when doctors have secure, timely access to complete patient records, patient safety and care are often improved and healthcare costs are reduced.

It makes sense – more efficient doctors and care staffs can see more patients in a given day, generating more revenue. In the course of an average day, doctors waste a lot of time just trying to find the relevant documentation about a patient. Integrated patient data could improve this situation, providing physicians with more time to interact with patients, and enabling them to see more patients each day, thereby improving patient satisfaction.

Accurate and accessible patient data can also help to reduce the number of duplicate tests ordered by physicians, which decreases costs for all parties involved. Large numbers of expensive and redundant tests frequently take place simply because the results of previous tests are not available to the physician in a timely manner. With linked patient records, physicians are able to view test results from anywhere easily and quickly, eliminating the need to order repeat tests that drive up costs and potentially compromise patient safety through unnecessary needle sticks or repeat radiation exposure.

Federation and a Security Focus

When evaluating EMPI technology options to address data interoperability, healthcare executives should look for a federated solution that offers robust privacy and security controls, and can be implemented rapidly and cost effectively without disrupting their existing IT infrastructure and data ownership.

A federated EMPI solution, which does not require existing data to be physically moved, can create an organization-wide master index of patients and record locations from existing systems (such as McKesson, Epic, Allscripts and Siemens) and provide real-time sharing of data, while allowing the hospital, clinic or physician’s practice to retain ownership and control of its own data.

A federated EMPI solution can help with security and privacy, since only the information that is needed for any given patient interaction is delivered upon an authorized request. From a security and privacy perspective, CMIOs and other executives should also look for an EMPI solution that supports highly granular policy controls that ensure that only the people who need to view information have access to it.

Conclusion

CMIOs and other healthcare executives can breathe a little easier. Their voices, and their patients’ voices, have been heard.

EMPI offerings are now available that integrate patient data beyond the walls of the hospital or clinic, and are faster, less expensive and more secure than many think. These EMPI solutions serve as the foundation to helping patients receive the highest quality care possible and ensuring they are treated as valued customers. They even address physician satisfaction while allowing for more cost effective care. At the end of the day, patients can receive better care for less expense. Shouldn’t that be everyone’s goal?