During Epic’s user group meeting in late September, Judy Faulkner made a bold statement to declare that the EHR era had run its course. She replaced the EHR term to CHR; implying that the electronic transition has been made and done. Back when paper records were the norm, the development of Electronic Records was the innovative term that all hospitals and systems used. However, in 2017 when nearly 87% of the nation has made a clear migration to EHR, the question is not the implementation itself, it’s the maintenance and continuation of the ongoing system and data.
The “C,” standing for Comprehensive represents this shift in use of records. The records are in and readily available, what’s next? According to Faulkner, “The first is that there’s information that’s not in the EHRs now. The second one is care that is not in the hospital but has to be part of the picture,” she said. “We bring them in the Comprehensive Health Record which should be the comprehensive health record – social and community care. And the last is traditional healthcare within the walls that has now moved out of the walls.” According to Mike Williams, CEO at Global Healthcare IT, Inc. Judy touches on the point that the federal government was making for a long time. The data is the key. With comprehensive data, hospitals can look to conduct in-depth data analytics. This can improve the hospitals’ own insight into their failures and triumphs, or can be the backbone of the general shift from Fee For Service to Fee For Value based system – also known as Population Health Management. The writing is on the wall for the advanced players in the healthcare provider space. Access to comprehensive data, including social, local, community, and macro sources will enable the best healthcare systems to accelerate the factors that differentiate them from the ordinary players. The healthcare data revolution will finally be available to most, if not all the participants and has the potential to really start paying dividends.
Getting on the band wagon, and not to be left out of this crucial market discussion, Epic’s major competitor Cerner Corporation added their own statement. Cerner agreed that “We’ve been discussing longitudinal health records that include social determinants and other relevant data for at least two years now, and there are more than 100 clients today using Cerner’s population health management platform (including many Epic EHR clients),” Cerner President Zane Burke said. Consensus appears to have been reached amongst the behemoths in the healthcare applications industry. CHR here we come.
Written by Bettsy Farias, with contribution by Michael Williams, CEO.
Follow the discussion on our LinkedIn groups or contact Bettsy for more information at bfarias@globalhit.com
