Push The Boundaries Of Treatment Options With EHRs & Data Infrastructure

By Scott Lenz, Strategic Alliances Manager, NetApp Healthcare

It’s amazing to see how much electronic health records (EHRs) and data sharing capabilities are transforming the healthcare industry. Data is becoming more tightly ingrained in our everyday lives. For example, almost 80 percent of office-based and almost 60 percent of hospital-based physicians now employ EHR systems. Though it’s been a difficult transition for many physicians, most who have completed it find it hard to imagine going back to the old days of paper charts and misplaced patient information.

As such, it’s pretty safe to say that effective and efficient systems which share comprehensive data improves patient safety, saves lives, and improves health outcomes across the continuum of care. But I observe the greatest impact EHRs – and healthcare technology in general – are having in the wider industry is in the area of chronic disease management and treatment.

I’m saying this as someone who’s spent 30 years in the healthcare technology space, and also as a patient facing a serious health issue where I’ve experienced firsthand the benefits of a comprehensive EHR integrated across the inpatient and outpatient care setting.

Art + Science
The practice of medicine today remains as much an art form as it is a science. Identifying the right treatment options often involves some trial and error and usually takes a course correction. In addition to the need for real-time data such as lab test results, this means the more efficient the communication between patient and healthcare provider, the quicker the optimal treatment is identified. Access to vital EHR-managed information is critical, but so too is being able to efficiently communicate/collaborate with your physician and wider medical community.

For example, as patients go through deeper and deeper testing, there is a wealth of data available. Patients (and physicians) are using this information to better understand and visualize their progress. Mobile applications, such as Epic Systems’ MyChart, are providing patients with lab and imaging results in real-time, as well as allowing secure messaging with their care team of physicians and nurses. The days of waiting on hold on the phone, or faxing or mailing information back and forth, are quickly going away.

Another example is how big data analytics is accelerating care optimization through Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). Basically, EBM aims to optimize decision-making on an individual patient’s care by the use of current best external evidence aggregated from the world’s medical scientific community.

In areas such as oncology, over 45 new drugs have been released to the market between 2010-2014, including speciality drugs that focus on DNA-specific gene mutation, and novel immunotherapies. The recommended best practices for use of these new treatment tools is evolving at a rapid pace, and sometimes change based on the findings presented by researchers at a medical conference or publication in the industry journals. Leading academic medical centers are now able to share their research data with colleagues in other organizations around the world at a much faster pace, accelerating the collaborative synergy.

Education Is Progress
The latest technologies and greater access to information is enabling patients to become much more involved in their treatment. Being more informed and being able to discuss and debate options with their physicians allows patients to feel that they’re part of the treatment process, eliminating the fear and uncertainty that comes with not-knowing.

Simply put, without patient data and efficient systems to share it, this type of practice wouldn’t exist. More so, with the wide-spread adoption of EHRs it is now a reality. Patients and their physicians are able to connect to a wider medical community to analyze data in real-time and then choose the best course of action available.

Information Is Liberating
Most people expect perfection out of their doctors, but the reality is that they aren’t perfect and don’t always have all the right information at the right time. Additionally, based on the patients’ location or uniqueness of condition, the resources and insights they need may not be readily available. However, that is changing.

EHRs and data infrastructure technology are instantly connecting patients and physicians to the wider medical community. These latest technologies allow patients and physicians to tap into the pool of specialists anywhere in the world to more quickly – and more effectively – treat serious conditions. For physicians, having results and patient feedback in real-time is allowing them to make better, more effective and timely treatment decisions. They are also able to adapt treatment on the fly.

It’s been said that “Information is liberating” – today’s healthcare technology is opening up a wealth of treatment options for patients. Patient care now far extends beyond the walls of their local hospital.

Progressing Forward
I have had the opportunity to see the wide spread adoption of EHRs in the healthcare space from the perspectives of both a vendor and patient. As the wealth of data grows and data infrastructure technology advances, the next step is genetically personalized healthcare treatment through the use of big data and genomics. I’m excited that NetApp is able to help many of these organizations more efficiently manage this data, to more quickly transform it into actionable information.

At the end of the day, open communication and collaboration around a patient’s medical records will always be vital to developing the right treatment option. Today’s healthcare advancements in secure mobile connectivity, unified data storage fabric, and EHR technology, are helping to break down barriers of access, improving communication between patient, physician and the wider medical community.