MDC Health & Medical Electronic Health Record Systems Discussion

A local internal medicine and cardiology practice has recently implemented their new EHR system from Company A. Some relatively minor building renovations were required, and additional hardware was installed. Extensive training sessions and onsite support staff spent several months meeting with all users. Superusers and managers were identified and given additional training.

During the testing phases, there were several glitches that needed to be addressed. Because of the practice’s long-standing relationship with a local hospital, they had to electronically communicate seamlessly to coordinate ongoing patient care throughout the healthcare continuum. The EHR from Company B is used by the hospital. Technology and software issues had to be addressed to ensure interoperability so that complete patient information was transmitted securely. The application of the HL7 messaging standards was evaluated for each system, and then the firewall and encryption software was adapted to meet data integrity and secure transmission requirements per the required standards. The patient portal for the physician practice had to be coordinated with the hospital’s EHR so that patients were able to see information generated from their hospital admission. The cardiologists and internal medicine physicians were incorporating this information into their outpatient treatment plans. These issues have been addressed and care coordination has become more efficient thanks in part to the new electronic processes incorporated into both EHR systems.

What could an HIM professional have done to prevent some of these issues?