Forum addresses hot topic in medical records: interoperability

Forum addresses hot topic in medical records: interoperability

Some Congress members and national media outlets say Epic Systems Corp. is blocking the sharing of electronic medical records, but that’s not true, an Epic executive said Tuesday at a forum that included a leader from a chief Epic competitor.

“We probably do more interoperability, in several different categories, than any other vendor out there,” Peter DeVault, an Epic vice president and director of interoperability, said at the Disruptive Healthcare Conference at the Fluno Center on the UW-Madison campus.

Bob Robke, vice president of interoperability for Cerner, an Epic rival, publicly asked Epic to join the CommonWell Health Alliance, a group of Epic competitors trying to develop better record exchanges.

“We would love for Epic to be part of that,” Robke said. “It would guarantee (its) success.”

DeVault didn’t say if Verona-based Epic would join, but he said Epic helps customers connect with CommonWell if they want to. He said, however, that Epic shouldn’t have to “buy in” to CommonWell to do so.

“There is not a magic future down the road in which there is one health information exchange network called CommonWell,” DeVault said.

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