Making Interoperability a Commonplace

No matter what your involvement is in healthcare, you know that the ultimate responsibility is to the patient.

That includes every organization that supplies products and services to the industry, as well as those who actually deliver care.

So it’s encouraging to note that TeleTracking and Epic Systems Corporation recently affirmed their commitment to healthcare interoperability and put to rest speculation that cross platform support would no longer be available to customers of either or both organizations.

According to Epic spokesperson Erika Koch, “TeleTracking and Epic jointly affirm their intent to maintain and continue support for interoperability between both companies’ systems for existing and future customers.”

At a time when the interoperability issue in healthcare is approaching a zenith, we see it as a positive step that industry leaders can put aside competitive differences on behalf of their the patient. It is clear to us, and many healthcare executives, that hospitals function much more efficiently when clinical and operational system can “talk” to each other.  This leads to cost savings, revenue generation, and most importantly, more effective care giving.

TeleTracking has always been open to interconnecting with other healthcare IT vendors for the betterment of patient care.  In fact, we have successfully interfaced with over 75 vendors, including Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendors like Epic, Cerner, Meditech, etc., at many of our 900 clients.

To download our whitepaper, “The Case for Healthcare IT Integration”, click here.

So far, the interoperability debate has focused on the EHR. Looking ahead, for the sake of providers and the safety of their patients, we call on all Healthcare IT vendors to seek true integrations, going beyond simple interfaces that can carry a cost for providers to maintain. The burden, as in other industries, should be placed upon the vendors to work together for the betterment of healthcare, ultimately creating a safer environment for the patient. The goal is about not only providing the appropriate diagnosis and treatment, but in getting patients access to that care in the timeliest manner possible.

As clinical and operational platforms come together, we envision interoperability becoming more than just sharing patient data. We see platforms bound together to deliver the right information, at the right time, at the right place, with the right resources, for the sake of the patient.

TeleTracking has already completed such integrations with many vendors, including Hill-Rom and Kronos. More importantly, TeleTracking will continue taking appropriate steps on interoperability to address broad operational challenges.

We sincerely hope that this cooperation becomes commonplace throughout the industry, helping make U.S. healthcare all that it can be for both patients and providers.

TeleTracking is the leading choice when it comes to automating patient flow and powering intelligent care delivery.  Read about the experiences others have had with our solutions to discover what TeleTracking can do for you by clicking here.