Question

what do you think are challenges of sharing data between EHRS?

Answer 1

An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient's paper chart. EHRS are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.

The three main challenges with sharing data between EHRS have been:

1. Finding Common Patients – There is no unique identifier that all healthcare providers use. That means you have to determine how to match up clients from one system to the other. For example, one system identifies a patient as “John Smith” while another uses “Johnny Smith.” One system collects the patient’s SSN, and the other doesn’t. In these situations, how can you link up clients with any certainty?
2. Data Translations – Once organizations identify their language differences, a mapping must be developed. The mapping can be as simple as gender being represented as “M” for male in one system and “2” for male in another system – or it can be as complicated as one system using ICD9 for diagnosis and another using ICD10. Even standards like SNOMED, HL7, and CDD cannot be depended upon for this task.
3. Data Storage – When sharing data between independent organizations, it is important to make sure that none of the partners feel like they are at a disadvantage to the partners who are holding the data.