Olympic Lessons In EHR Adoption

By Ken Congdon

One of the ultimate goals of EHR adoption is the creation of a global infrastructure where the medical record can easily travel with the patient, regardless of where in the world they seek care. We’re currently a long way from realizing this vision in the U.S., which can create some communication and treatment issues whenever a patient needs to be seen outside of their regular care network. Luckily, outside of patients that relocate or get sick or injured while on vacation, most patients aren’t excessively mobile. Most tend to seek care from multiple providers in their local community. However, what if the tables were turned? What if the vast majority of your patient population was made up of world travelers? What if your patients regularly sought care in different cities, states, countries, and even continents? What if transporting a medical record in a timely manner was considerably more complex than couriering a paper file across town to a local specialist’s office? Well, this “what-if” scenario is a reality for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).