Major health IT companies make interoperability pledge at HIMSS16

Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Earlier this week, at a keynote address of HIMSS16, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced a broad industry initiative to make electronic health records (EHRs) work better for patients and providers. Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth, Allscripts, Kaiser Permanente and John Hopkins Medical are all on board, and so are the five largest health care systems in the U.S.

Overall, these companies provide 90 percent of EHRs used by hospitals in the country, and have agreed to implement three core commitments:

First, they will make sure consumers (patients) will be able to easily and securely access their electronic health information, direct it to any desired location, and learn how their information can be shared and used.

Second, providers won’t block each other, and will commit to share health information with other providers and their patients whenever permitted by law.

Finally, EHR software providers will work on implementing federally recognized, national interoperability standards, policies, guidance, and practices for electronic health information, and adopt best practices including those related to privacy and security.

“These commitments are a major step forward in our efforts to support a healthcare system that is better, smarter, and results in healthier people,” HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said. “Technology isn’t just one leg of our strategy to build a better healthcare system for our nation, it supports the entire effort. We are working to unlock healthcare data and information so that providers are better informed and patients and families can access their healthcare information, making them empowered, active participants in their own care.”

The full list of organizations that have made commitments and their pledges is available from a dedicated page at the HealthIT.gov website.