Image Exchange and Critical Access Hospitals: Do They Still Lag Behind? Why?.

The interoperable image exchange is something people take for granted in populated urban centers and suburbs. It’s fast, data gets where it’s supposed to be and there are usually no hiccups. However, the small, rural and critical access hospitals can only wish for a more robust experience.

The rural areas are lagging in regard to image exchanges, and it has a lot to do with infrastructure and resources (both monetarily and personnel related). Unfortunately, even if you’re lacking the resources you need, you’re still being held to the same standards and your patients require just as good of healthcare as the people in more populated areas are getting.

Hospitals everywhere are making attempts to move away from paper-only methods of exchange to an improved electronic health data exchange, but there is a noticeable difference in the level of progress for the smaller hospitals who are not seeing much payoff for their efforts. When exchange partners have limited capability to receive information in an electronic form, this is exactly what happens.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) actually tracks various areas related to electronic data exchanges. There are four areas of interoperability that the ONC considers: electronically sending summary of care records, querying records, integrated summary of care records and receiving summary of care records. Small, rural hospitals, the ONC found, have lower rates of engaging in all four areas of interoperability. Furthermore, they had lower rates of electronically available information from outside sources.

Unfortunately, the ONC findings show that only 18 percent of small hospitals were engaging in all four areas of interoperability. In medium and large hospitals, 34 percent were engaged in all four areas.

The good news is that around 75 percent of small hospitals were electronically sending summary of care records, but that’s significantly lower than the 90 percent of urban hospitals doing the same.

Some healthcare professionals are holding out for government assistance to gain access to financing for new software, broadband connectivity and even some brick-and-mortar infrastructure. As of last year, initiatives had been expanded in 18 states, but the future is unclear where government assistance is concerned, especially in these decidedly unconventional times.

While broadband connectivity is a must for cloud solutions, many rural areas with critical access hospitals are not left wanting in that area, so they can get all the perks of a big-city hospital where interoperability is concerned. At OffSite Image Management, Inc., we’ve already got the ball rolling with many rural clients who are gaining access to top-notch, industry-leading solutions without all the cost. Contact us today and find out how you can get rid of the lag that’s holding you back.