CHIME, HL7 Working Together to Address Challenges to Achieving Interoperability

ANN ARBOR, MI, October 13, 2014 – As part of a partnership to advance interoperability in healthcare, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and Health Level Seven International (HL7) are continuing to work together to promote a standardized approach for exchanging healthcare information.

All segments of the healthcare industry are facing growing pressure to deliver improved results, and to do that, the industry needs more collaboration and coordination. Current trends point to the need for a more effective exchange of information. CHIME and HL7 are working together to highlight the importance of developing and adopting standards to achieve interoperability.

Various models of interoperability, and the necessity of extending the concept throughout the healthcare industry, were key topics at recent HL7 meetings in Chicago, which CHIME sponsored.

“CHIME is pleased to work with HL7 to promote a standardized approach to interoperable data exchange,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO. “Supporting events such as HL7’s plenary meeting and payer summit highlight the critical work being done to overcome interoperability barriers and that standards-based technologies lead to improved safety, quality and efficiency of patient care.”

Key highlights of the HL7 28th Annual Plenary meeting included:

  • The potential benefits of a learning health system must be achieved for the industry to make important gains in effective treatment.
  • Standards initiatives, particularly HL7’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®), have the potential to address many of the concerns brought out in reports by JASON and other groups that have voiced concerns over interoperability.
  • Because the technology now is in widespread use to improve the health of patients, optimizing information exchange becomes an ethical issue; achieving interoperability is more than just the exchange of data as it directly impacts patients’ lives.

For an executive summary on the HL7 Plenary meeting, click here.

At the inaugural HL7 Payer Summit, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Cigna, Delta Dental Plans Association, Humana and other industry stakeholders were in attendance to discuss the impact of standards on data exchange with payers.

“We’re taking part in collaboration with every segment of the healthcare industry,” said Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO of HL7 International. He added, “Our standards can provide the payer community with the much needed link to clinical information. We believe this will enable the transformation of healthcare from pay-for-service to pay-for-quality.”

Provider CIOs need to take notice of payer insistence of standards-based systems and incorporate those preferences into their IT planning.

Key highlights of the HL7 Payer Summit included:

  • Payer and provider roles are converging as the industry moves toward a more integrated healthcare system.
  • Payers should be able to integrate clinical and financial data to analyze how care practices affect patient outcomes.
  • As more payers shift to offering value-based reimbursement to providers, payers must be able to measure the value and integrate care in such a way that it meets the needs of employers and their employee populations.
  • The federal government continues to support interoperability by expanding the value of the portfolio of standards to support ACOs, payment reform, value-based purchasing and other administrative priorities.
  • An overview of HL7 FHIR, a new-generation framework that accelerates the implementation and use of standards. HL7 FHIR will enable payers and other industry participants to write apps that that help them get the information they need.

For an executive summary on the HL7 Payer Summit, click here.

About Health Level Seven International (HL7)
Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven International is the global authority for healthcare
information interoperability and standards with affiliates established in more than 30 countries.
HL7 is a non-profit, ANSI accredited standards development organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. HL7’s more than 2,000 members represent approximately 500 corporate members, which include more than 90 percent of the information systems vendors serving healthcare. HL7 collaborates with other standards developers and provider, payer, philanthropic and government agencies at the highest levels to ensure the development of comprehensive and reliable standards and successful interoperability efforts.

About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.chimecentral.org.

Contacts
Andrea Ribick
HL7 International
Director of Communications
734.677.7777 x165
[email protected]

Fred Bazzoli
CHIME
Sr. Director of Communications
630.485.5193
[email protected]

Updated: 10/13/2014 1:02:30 PM