KLAS Interoperability Study Highlights Vendor Performance
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Healthcare providers want better coordination among vendors, timely location of patient records, and improvements in parsing capabilities in order to make their EHRs more interoperable, according to findings from a new study by KLAS.
The inaugural study, Interoperability 2015: Are We Lifting Together?, highlights how providers organizations rate their current EHR vendors to assess the current state of the market. KLAS interviewed more than 200 healthcare professionals for the study.
As reported by Health IT Outcomes, one analyst had argued that the solution to lowering “outlandish” vendor interoperability fees was the elimination or reduction of HITECH incentive payments and regulation of EHR vendor charges for interoperability.
Some argue that competition among vendors has stood in the way of achieving real progress in national interoperability as envisioned by the ONC. Epic and other vendors responded to such criticism by waiving data sharing fees last spring as a sign of good faith that they supported interoperability and information exchange.
Participants in the KLAS study rated athenahealth as the easiest EHR vendor to connect to, followed by Cerner and Epic. According to the KLAS report, “No vendor is viewed more favorably regarding interoperability” than athenahealth, and, “Compared to other EMR vendors, athenahealth ranks very well in every measured category. Those connecting with or through athenahealth feel strongly that the vendor’s interoperability platform is simple to set up and maintain. Perhaps more impressive is the vote of confidence about the positive impact these connections are having or will have on patient care.”
The study also found all participants identified barriers to interoperability, but technology was not identified by either providers or vendors as a “missing ingredient” in the mix. Instead, “lack of agreement on the use of standards and willingness to share information” were pointed to as likely culprits.
With the release of the ONC’s Interoperability Road Map and the intensified attention to sharing of patient information to improve patient outcomes, new pressures are being felt by vendors and healthcare organizations to join ranks. “We are shining a light on how both providers and vendors are committed to solving interoperability problems and proactively taking opportunities to improve healthcare,” KLAS founder Kent Gale explained. “Having connectivity that allows information to be exchanged easily and without disruption is vital to the patient’s care. We must enjoy that level of sharing as soon as possible. It’s time to make that happen through industry collaboration around a unified goal.”