Big Name EMR Vendors Stand Out in KLAS Interoperability Report

Despite a reputation of being a vendor that is difficult to work with others, Epic rated positively for its interoperability strengths, according to a new report from the Orem, Utah-based KLAS.

In the inaugural report, “Interoperability 2015: Are We Lifting Together?” healthcare providers strongly encourage better coordination among vendors, timely location of patient records and greatly improved parsing capabilities as three of the most needed improvements for interoperability of electronic medical records (EMRs). KLAS interviewed more than 200 healthcare professionals (customers, non-customers, and vendors) during a three-month period for this study. All participants identified barriers to interoperability. However, neither providers nor vendors mentioned technology as a missing ingredient, stating instead that lack of agreement on the use of standards and willingness to share information are more likely causes.

To date, most respondents are disappointed with poor coordination among vendors, difficulty locating records, and limited parsing abilities. A majority of respondents have little optimism about the future of public health information exchanges (HIEs), reporting limited value.

As such, providers want invisible, effortless connections that provide high patient are value. Connections via EMR vendors’ private networks are the closest match today, with Epic clients in the Care Everywhere network composing more than 80 percent of such connections and enjoying immediate benefits once live. This was in response to the question of which connections bring the highest value,

Demonstrating the success of clear governance and standards, Care Everywhere is successful due to clear client governance, Epic’s large footprint, and an almost effortless activation process, according to the report’s findings. Epic’s network does not solve the critical need for heterogeneous connections built through vendor collaboration, however. In the absence of such collaboration, many are hopeful that Direct messaging will provide a valuable plug-and-play connection between vendors. More