The next step: Evaluating new EHR solutions
If your organization is in the market for a new EHR solution, there are many factors you’ll need to consider as you evaluate offerings on the market today for their ability to interoperate in the future. Here are some questions you’ll want to consider to ensure the solution you select will meet interoperability goals:

• What are your priorities for a new EHR? Not every organization will have the same needs for interoperability. It could vary by practice, specialty, reporting requirements or overall goal of the organization. For example, a practice that is on 2015-certified EHR technology and has a goal of achieving the highest possible score in the “promoting interoperability” category will want to ensure that its EHR vendor can support this goal. Another practice, though, may only want to connect with other internal software that they use on-site.
• How mature is the prospective EHR vendor in terms of interoperability? Ensuring a level of interoperability that works well for a practice really depends on proper discovery during the EHR evaluation. For example, if your practice’s main goal is to exchange data with the local hospital, you will want to ensure that the EHR vendor is capable of doing so. If you don’t qualify a prospective vendor’s ability to exchange data with the organizations you deem mission critical, your practice could continue to face the same challenges discussed above long into the future. Ideally you will want a solution that uses Health Level Seven (HL7) interfaces that support connections with other practices, hospitals, health information exchanges (HIEs), labs and immunization registries.

• Can the EHR solution support exchange of multiple forms of information? It should be capable of handling seamless data exchange in multiple formats, moving easily between diverse EHRs, practice management systems and other applications, which is becoming more important with the growth of connected consumer health-monitoring devices. Systems also should be able to handle multiple forms of information, including demographics, financial information, immunization records, appointment summaries, scheduling information, clinical data and documents, orders, test results and more.

• Is it flexible and cost-effective? Point-to-point solutions deployed on-site at a facility are pricey, hard to maintain and responsible for creating the silos that hamper interoperability. Consider centralized platforms that can be accessed securely and easily by hospitals, affiliated practices, and others involved in patient care.

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