Among the biggest fears that many experts have in the nation's transition toward an electronic healthcare system is a lack of interoperability. However, government officials have pledged to make this a top priority in the coming year.
As different states launch their own health information exchange networks and providers adopt technology from different software companies, some have raised the alarm that these various systems may all be using different languages. This would make the broad sharing of information, which lies at the heart of the push to transition to electronic health records, impossible.
However, David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, told Government Health IT, that achieving broad interoperability is near the top of his priority list in 2011.
“In part, we feel a sense of urgency because we fear if we don’t lay the groundwork for that soon that we may not be able to do it later on,” he told the news source.
He added that the second stage of meaningful use rules, which are currently being crafted, will focus on achieving interoperability standards.
Government officials have said that they plan on putting the stage 2 meaningful use rules in place by the beginning of 2013.