Google Cloud recently commissioned a survey aimed at physicians that revealed that the pandemic has increased interoperability knowledge and health IT adoption. Whereas before the pandemic, just over half of responding physicians would best describe health IT adoption as ‘neutral,’ now 45 percent say health IT adoption has accelerated while 62 percent say they’ve made It improvements that would have otherwise taken years.
There was much more consistent agreement amongst physicians when it came to the need for interoperability. 86 percent said data interoperability will save time diagnosing patients, 89 percent said they’re looking for ways to bring together patient health data, and a whopping 95 percent got to the heart of the matter, agreeing that greater interoperability will lead to better patient outcomes.
Google Cloud has had an interest in the healthcare space for a while now and recently announced ‘Healthcare Data Engine,’ which can better coordinate disparate data sources. Interoperability is great and easier to use APIs are appealing when the data sources are in good shape. This means that organizations shouldn’t just have image files for clinicians and health experts to browse, but real discrete data.
Extract comes in to make sure all of the faxes, scans, couriered documents, correspondence, orders, and anything else that might come from an outside organization turn into usable, trendable data, regardless of the document structure.
Another insight that came from the survey was that 57 percent believed that improved interoperability can help with burnout. Automating your data entry workflow is the kind of decision that can have ripple effects across an organization to alleviate issues like burnout. Clinicians will have data in front of them instead of needing to search through a pdf, data entry staff can vastly increase their quality metrics, duplicate results and patients no longer require remediation, and big picture groups like population health will have access to a both better and more robust dataset.
While the numbers are improving, it should be noted that the surveyed physicians are still gaining familiarity with the Department of Health and Human Services’ interoperability rules. 74 percent of respondents have heard of the rules and 30 percent are somewhat or very familiar with them.
It’s no secret that work on the efficient exchange of data will continue, as it has a real impact on both patients and providers. The question will be, once the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, can healthcare organizations keep up the rapid pace of technology adoption we’ve seen over the past two years?
If your organization would like to continue this trend, and make a substantive difference in the way you take in data and documents, I’d encourage you to take a look at some of the videos, case studies, and handouts we have on our healthcare resources page or get in touch with us if you’d like to set up an introductory call or demonstration of the software.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.