Discussion: Interoperability of EHR NURS 658

DQ2 Discuss the interoperability of an electronic health
record (EHR) in your current or past workplace. Provide examples from this
week’s readings about the functions, significance, and factors that affect the
use and implementation of the (EHR).

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Local health departments (LHDs) are presented with an unprecedented opportunity to use real-time, standardized data to inform public health practice in a post–Affordable Care Act era marked by interorganizational collaborations and availability of large amounts of electronic health care data through health information exchanges.1–4 In a dynamic public health environment filled with emerging demands for evidence-based public health practice, it is ever more imperative for LHDs to harness these data and integrate them into their decision support systems in order to efficiently meet public health practice needs.5 Some of these public health needs dictating integration and exchange of data include information needs for emergency management,6 disease reporting, early detection of outbreaks,7,8 surveillance,9,10 assessment of community health status, needs and resources for evidence-based decision making,11 and enabling assessment of health disparities,12 to name a few.

Research shows that some LHD staff members already perceive an increased responsibility for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data to community partners and, in turn, growing greater epidemiologic and surveillance capacity.13 However, efficient data management and use may be hindered by the reality that LHDs’ data needs vary considerably, as does their infrastructure. The complexity of data needs and availability present difficulty in using and managing data, particularly because much of these data are stored in noncomparable formats and cannot be easily combined with other data systems without additional work.14 Smaller LHDs are less likely to be informatics savvy due to lack of financial and human capital, so managing information systems and using information technology (IT) tools are bigger challenges for them.15–18

LHDs cannot take advantage of the opportunities to utilize large amounts of data from all sectors of society if their information systems are unable to interact with external, often more sophisticated, data systems. This issue is often referred to as lack of interoperability. Interoperability is the capacity of IT systems for bidirectional communication and exchange of information allowing the multiple agencies to use the exchanged information and communicate or work together.19,20 Interoperability between systems may improve communication, efficiency, and accuracy of information transmission, eventually leading to improvements in health outcomes and cost-effectiveness for patients and providers.20

Discussion: Interoperability of EHR NURS 658