It goes without saying that there is a significant care coordination gap that exists in the United States due to a lack of interoperability between health care facilities. In general, health information technology (HIT) aims to improve care coordination and delivery by providing remote access to patient data and other necessary information for clinicians, allowing asynchronous communication, and improving legibility (Samal et al., 2016). However, in reality, when transitioning patients between acute care hospitals, post-acute facilities, emergency departments, home health agencies, and skilled nursing facilities, HIT is not involved to the fullest extent to coordinate care.
According to the research conducted by Samal et al. (2016) that involved information technology professionals and clinicians from 17 organizations, HIT is generally used for aligning systems-level resources with population needs and monitoring patients. However, multiple areas with missing data and inefficient processes due to a lack of interoperability were identified. Although emails were used for connection between facilities and interpersonal and asynchronous communication, none of the specialists reported efficient electronic information transfer. Moreover, medical records were frequently “printed out and hand-carried by ambulance personnel” (Samal et al., 2016, p. 3). Even if acute care hospitals and emergency departments share the same electronic health records, their interoperability with home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities is substantially limited.
At the same time, Blockchain technology as an innovative approach to message distribution may fill the care coordination gap and improve interoperability in health care settings (Rakic, 2018). It may provide stable real-time data streams from multiple resources for health care predictive analytics and quick medical response. Thus, this technology may improve health care coordination, accuracy in both health care delivery and long-running analyses, accelerate interoperability, and increase the general quality and optimum quality of treatment.
References
Rakic, D. (2018). Blockchain technology in healthcare. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2018) (pp. 13-20), SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Web.
Samal, L., Dykes, P. C., Greenberg, J. O., Hasan, O., Venkatesh, A. K., Volk, L. A., & Bates, D. W. (2016). Care coordination gaps due to lack of interoperability in the United States: A qualitative study and literature review.BMC Health Services Research, 16(143), 1-8. Web.