Electronic health records (EHRs) are fast becoming the norm as more and more hospitals comply with federal regulations that require specific guidelines on how medical records are stored and accessed. Medical imaging is also part of that process, which has some facilities scrambling to be in compliance, mostly due to the expense of the technology and the expertise required to implement it.
According to an IT survey from the American Hospital Association, nine out of 10 facilities have EHR technology that is certified. About six in 10 facilities have advanced functionalities installed in their EHR systems. All told, there is an increase in EHR adoption of about 500 percent since 2008, which means healthcare providers have had a busy last six years.
According to a separate report in a publication called Health Affairs, around 60 percent of hospitals have shared healthcare data electronically, which is about a 51 percent increase since 2008. The most commonly shared data includes lab results and radiology reports. What’s troubling though is that only about 40 percent of hospitals were able to send and receive messages that were electronically secure.
The Office of the National Coordinator’s (ONC) 2014 IT certification regulation is expected to boost the number of providers sharing medical data electronically. However, the highest rates of sharing between facilities at this point in time occurs with providers who are part of a regional health information exchange.
The ONC buoys healthcare providers that make efforts to exchange information electronically not just from department to department, but also from facility to facility. Furthermore, the ONC encourages the development of framework that can assist in making this exchange more efficient.
Honeycomb exchange is doing exactly that. Honeycomb is the technology allowing health image exchange platforms to work so smoothly. In order to facilitate the critical data exchange that providers depend on for better patient care they’re using Honeycomb exchange, which acts as a software layer that connects disparate digital silos.
Healthcare providers need to be assured that their information is exchanged in the most secure fashion possible, which is why exchanges using Honeycomb are getting so much attention. Honeycomb does an excellent job of protecting data from external threats while providing software redundancies.
As digital imaging continues to explode, there is more of a need for DICOM exchange in vendor neutral settings. Disparate networks using different system can only communicate effectively through vendor neutral architecture. This is important because patients have multiple doctors and specialists looking after them today, which means there needs to be a clean flow of information from one facility to the next, especially the larger data items like medical imaging.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., utilizes Honeycomb exchange to great effect. With image exchanges set up in Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Michigan, OffSite depends on the reliability of Honeycomb to keep members of the exchange connected to their data at all times. If your hospital needs a better connection, contact OffSite today and find out more about how they can use Honeycomb to your advantage.