Comments on: The EMR-Medical Devices Mess http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/ Software Development and Biomedical Engineering Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:07:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Dreaming of Flexible, Simple, Sloppy, Tolerant in Healthcare IT | Bob on Medical Device Software http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/comment-page-1/#comment-1179 Dreaming of Flexible, Simple, Sloppy, Tolerant in Healthcare IT | Bob on Medical Device Software Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:37:06 +0000 http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/#comment-1179 [...] to mind is HL7?  I’m not suggesting that some sort of open ad hoc system is the solution to The EMR-Medical Devices Mess.  But it’s painfully obvious that what has been built so far closely resemble “great [...] [...] to mind is HL7?  I’m not suggesting that some sort of open ad hoc system is the solution to The EMR-Medical Devices Mess.  But it’s painfully obvious that what has been built so far closely resemble “great [...]

]]> By: Transcription Guy http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/comment-page-1/#comment-406 Transcription Guy Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:57:47 +0000 http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/#comment-406 The purpose of HIPAA was to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system through the development of established health data standards and requirements for the transmission and storage of electronic health information. Currently, however, most EMR and medical transcription companies dont comply with these standards. We need to create a licencing mechanism to ensure that companies are indeed HIPAA compliant, similar to how manufacturers get ISO-9001 certified. Otherwise, the act just turns into a marketing tag line for companies. The purpose of HIPAA was to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system through the development of established health data standards and requirements for the transmission and storage of electronic health information. Currently, however, most EMR and medical transcription companies dont comply with these standards. We need to create a licencing mechanism to ensure that companies are indeed HIPAA compliant, similar to how manufacturers get ISO-9001 certified. Otherwise, the act just turns into a marketing tag line for companies.

]]> By: Tim Gee http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/comment-page-1/#comment-387 Tim Gee Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:21:58 +0000 http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/#comment-387 Bob, thanks for the link! You're right, connectivity in ambulatory care is even worse off than in hospitals. It is expensive in hospitals, but in the physician office market many vendors (especially EMR vendors) refuse to do the work. Certainly configuring HL7 at each installation is not practical in a highly fragmented market like physicians (where there are hundreds of thousands of practice locations). Proprietary APIs, like that offered by Midmark on the device side, and AllScript on the EMR side, are even worse. Integrating an API is a much bigger task than configuring the table of an HL7 interface. And there are dozens of medical device vendors in that market, and hundreds of EMR vendors. There are ways to overcome this situation, but it won't happen through market "evolution" - it will take a real effort. Eventually the market will drive both device and EMR vendors to make this effort. Bob, I hope we're both still around to see it! Bob, thanks for the link! You’re right, connectivity in ambulatory care is even worse off than in hospitals. It is expensive in hospitals, but in the physician office market many vendors (especially EMR vendors) refuse to do the work.

Certainly configuring HL7 at each installation is not practical in a highly fragmented market like physicians (where there are hundreds of thousands of practice locations). Proprietary APIs, like that offered by Midmark on the device side, and AllScript on the EMR side, are even worse. Integrating an API is a much bigger task than configuring the table of an HL7 interface. And there are dozens of medical device vendors in that market, and hundreds of EMR vendors.

There are ways to overcome this situation, but it won’t happen through market “evolution” - it will take a real effort. Eventually the market will drive both device and EMR vendors to make this effort. Bob, I hope we’re both still around to see it!

]]> By: Bridging the “Device Divide” http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/comment-page-1/#comment-263 Bridging the “Device Divide” Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:28:23 +0000 http://rdn-consulting.com/blog/2007/09/22/the-emr-medical-devices-mess/#comment-263 [...] run across. It’s just that, as Robert Nadler, an employee at a device manufacturer, recently blogged: “The problem… is that we don’t have the resources to build each unique interface required to [...] [...] run across. It’s just that, as Robert Nadler, an employee at a device manufacturer, recently blogged: “The problem… is that we don’t have the resources to build each unique interface required to [...]

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