The EHR vision is about enabling health care organizations to seamlessly connect with each other to share information and do business. Adoption of common technology standards will make it possible for hospitals, physicians, health plans, and other industry players to communicate without the barriers of disparate systems – resulting in greater cost-efficiency. Integrating health care through technology will streamline transactions and ultimately enhance the quality of care.

Some of the greatest opportunities for process improvement go beyond automating care within a setting to integrating the myriad of processes that occur across settings. The ideal healthcare system is comprised of organizations that can integrate care across organizational boundaries. Healthcare information solutions need to parallel each patient's continuum of care; recording critical clinical data at each step of the path that patients take through the healthcare system, so that necessary information is readily available for critical decision making.

However, hurdles remain. Lack of interoperability among providers, payers, pharmacies, and other stakeholders is a big impediment to achieving a framework of transparent operations. Effective use of technology to achieve an efficient and consumer-focused environment continues to be a challenge.

Connecting processes is all about standards and integration. One of the most influential forces in the area of HIT standards definition and adoption is the HL7 organization (www.HL7.org). But integration remains a complex issue as the healthcare industry juggles a multiplicity of standards that were born out of these very integration challenges. Leveraging existing solutions to provide clinicians with a clearer view of a patient's continuity of care remains a huge opportunity, thanks to the complexity of moving data from one disparate system to the next.

Marlabs EHR Solutions
Implementing integrated EHR systems is a focus area for the Marlabs Healthcare Practice.

Mapping out clinical data flows enables us to ensure that the solution addresses your unique needs. By establishing therapy protocols, defining an appropriate level of clinical decision support, and developing interfacing solutions such as HL7 messaging brokers for interoperability, our solutions promote efficient care delivery across individual provider boundaries.

Our healthcare practice teams constantly researches changes in standards and regulations to help our clients stay abreast of the rapidly evolving healthcare IT landscape.