AHA panel recommends actions to advance health information exchange

The nation must make rapid progress on developing secure, efficient sharing of health information, not only for improving care, but also for engaging patients and supporting new models of care, according to a report released today by the AHA’s Interoperability Advisory Group. The report notes that progress will take collaborative work across public and private sectors. Among other actions, the report recommends hospitals and health systems engage more fully to identify priorities for sharing data and contribute to creating better testing of IT systems. For their part, vendors should align their business case with the needs of their customers, so that information can be shared efficiently and effectively without repeated and expensive “tolls” for creating interfaces and completing transactions. In addition, the federal government “must continue to support interoperability, but with a laser tight focus on standards, certification and testing,” the report states. AHA formed the 24-member advisory group to better understand member priorities for information sharing, barriers to interoperability, and specific actions that the public and private sectors could take to move forward.