From The News Wire: New Children's Electronic Health Record Format Announced

From HealthIT.gov

New Children's Electronic Health Record Format Announced
A new database developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality with support from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can help software developers create better Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for the care of children. The children’s EHR format establishes a blueprint for EHRs to better meet the needs of health care providers and pediatric patients by combining best-practices in clinical care, information technology, and insights from experts in children’s health. Since few EHRs have been created with children’s needs in mind, gaps in functionality, data elements and other areas tend to occur. The format guides EHR developers in understanding the requirements for functionality, data standards, usability and interoperability of an EHR system to more optimally support the provision of health care to children – especially those enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The format is readily accessible and adoptable by EHR developers for use during product development or enhancement. 

In addition to providing guidance to developers, the format can provide guidance for EHR system purchasers and policy makers. For example, policy makers and purchasers can use the requirements when assessing functionality of EHRs. For more information or to access the format, select:http://healthit.ahrq.gov/childehrFormat. 

Tab A in Slot B - Interoperability.

Raise your hand if you have built something from IKEA.

OK so that is all of us.

We eventually get a table or chair together because it was designed to go together.

How awesome would it be if our health information was designed to go together? Or at least that subset of health information that is our diabetes information? That was the topic of conversation at the Diabetes Mine Innovation Summit and was the driving point behind my fantasy device post.

A recent post at MobiHealthNews.com takes this to the broader case of EHR under the title, Interoperability holds the key to EHR, mobile health success. They quote Chuck Parker of Continua saying;

Studies of connected health show that when patients incorporate mHealth into their lives — at home, work, and on the go — they recognize the relationship between their health behaviors and experience of health and are consequently better able to self-manage.

and 

The fact is, unless personal health devices work together with minimal effort, patients are unlikely to stick with mHealth tools, and the momentous opportunity for connected health will be lost.

Will EHR's need to become interoperable drive diabetes devices to do the same? Who knows. Tab A will only fit slot B if it is designed to do so.

Lets get back to that future. (Cheesy way to tie image the in.)