When you’re in need of a knee replacement, you don’t turn to a pulmonologist. Likewise, when it’s time for a skin cancer check, an oral surgeon shouldn’t top your list. Afterall, extensive medical schooling may be the common denominator, but there’s no substitute for specialized training and experience.
Just as we don’t expect all physicians to be all-knowing, we too must temper our expectations when it comes to the capabilities of healthcare technology. In IMO’s new (mini) eBook, we explore this idea in the context of electronic health records (EHRs), understanding them as powerful, foundational tools that do so much, but simply cannot do it all. Indeed, they were never designed to.
In their early days, EHRs were developed to address reimbursement needs, but as more people in various roles came to use them, the need for additional functionalities became clear – and a new world of HIT innovation was born. The EHR, a technological game changer in its own right, became fertile ground for creative third-party solutions.
The need for ‘crosswalks’ between medical dictionaries and billing codes led to clinical interface terminology offerings. The cumbersome paper and fax-based communications between providers and payers yielded prior authorization applications. And seamless EHR integrations have made it possible to do these things, and so much more, without endlessly toggling between interfaces and disparate systems.
