Government agencies that pay for healthcare services, from the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, often share healthcare coverage responsibilities. Due to their overlapping accountability, it stands to reason that these entities should be at the forefront of interoperability, working to share patient information to improve care and reduce costs. And yet, challenges persist.
Here’s the problem: federal organizations face a wide range of evolving political, technical and financial barriers that discourage smooth data sharing. For example, most federal agencies are focused predominantly on their internal mission and have little incentive to look beyond immediate goals to invest in wide-scale data exchange from which they would derive little immediate benefit.
Information sharing can also be a financial burden, requiring governance, oversight and an appropriate technology infrastructure. There are also security concerns when it comes to exchanging federal employee data, particularly that of individuals in active, standing military service. When the DoD engages in any information sharing, for instance, it must be especially careful to avoid inadvertently giving away a person’s deployment location or other sensitive information, compromising patient health information.
What Could the Future Look Like?
If federal agencies can overcome existing barriers, the possibilities for better, more efficient care grow. Smoother information sharing can enhance population health management, allowing agencies to look more holistically across a population and identify concerning trends. Although agencies are in the fledgling stages of interoperability efforts now, they need to think long-term strategy. Consider if systems could collaborate to spot seemingly unrelated events. For instance, when an individual frequents various emergency rooms with broken bones, it may be bad luck, or could, conversely, be indicative of a more serious underlying condition (such as osteoporosis) what could respond to the proper treatment.
Accessing more diverse health data, such as information from pharmacies, mental health professionals and specialist outpatient facilities, should also be a goal. Even non-healthcare information—such as motor vehicle data, school information, income data and so on—can help providers can gain a better understanding of a patient’s health context.
Taking the Next Step
How can government agencies lead the charge in taking interoperability to the next level? The following are a few key steps that can propel the industry forward:
- Agree on what information to exchange. This should be the first order of business in any interoperability arrangement. Agencies must raise the bar on what is considered meaningful sharing in an effort to enhance patient safety and completeness of care.
- Seek sustained, long-term funding.As mentioned, interoperability can be expensive and government agencies should thus be prepared to seek funding for data exchange programs. While these initiatives may require a sizable investment initially, potential savings far outweigh the expenditures.
- Commit to collaboration. Once partnering organizations have agreed on the project scope and format and have secured the appropriate funding, they must continue collaborating to see the initiative through to fruition. There may be other issues that arise as the organizations strive to exchange data, however, if the participating agencies seek the same goal—to effectively share data to improve patient care—then these obstacles should be surmountable.
Shifting the Paradigm
Achieving true interoperability will require commitment, time, resources and resolve. It is, however, possible and government agencies are best positioned to move the industry forward. As these organizations further embrace their role in this effort, the industry will observe a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery, transitioning from a reactive to a proactive plan of attack that encourages patient health for both present and future generations.
Mahesh Kalva is chief technologist and life sciences & engineering head for Lockheed Martin Health & Life Sciences.
