HIMSS19 Recap – Fighting Information Blocking with FHIR®
In February, members of the Qvera team attended the 2019 HIMSS global conference in Orlando to exchange ideas, spread the word about our top-rated interface engine, discover new tools and hear industry news, along with more than 45,000 other health care innovators.
The introduction of hotly anticipated new ONC and CMS rule proposals on day one of the conference prompted spirited conversation about interoperability, data exchange, APIs and the FHIR standard.
We added some fuel to the FHIR discussion by serving over 850 cups of espresso to attendees at our booth — and by engaging with a wide variety of people about how QIE can bring health data to where it is needed.
No information blocking allowed, says CMS
After years of nudging the health IT industry to prioritize information sharing with mixed results, the ONC and CMS took a strong stand by introducing rule proposals that will require providers to supply free electronic records access and to adopt the FHIR standard, enabling more efficient information exchange. This is a bold step toward giving patients total ownership of their own health data and improving the ways patients access and share this information.
“From health plans to hospitals and clinicians to post-acute care providers, we want every stakeholder focused on the need for seamless data sharing,” said Seema Verma, CMS administrator.
Lower costs and better outcomes through data analysis
Other prominent topics at HIMSS included artificial intelligence, virtual reality and cloud-based machine learning. Health care organizations produce an unimaginable amount of data — and currently only about half of them use analytics technologies to sort through that data to produce actionable insights. As seamless data exchange becomes the norm, more businesses — including Google, Microsoft and IBM — are offering cloud storage and analytics options, opening doors for affordable and efficient methods for analyzing data trends.
Improve access and analysis with QIE
We believe using and securely sharing medical data should be as effortless as possible. Attending HIMSS consistently provides us with the exciting opportunity to witness powerful advancements in health IT’s ability to leverage data, improving health across people and populations.
Qvera Interface Engine (QIE) is fully compliant with the new ONC/CMS rules. It offers robust and meaningful data exchange capabilities that help providers meet government requirements while reducing costs, gaining valuable business insights and improving patient care.
QIE inherently supports the FHIR standard and is an ideal choice for anyone looking to replace or adopt an interface engine. And for small clinics, the full-featured QIE Standard is completely free.
Contact us to learn more about how QIE can solve your interoperability problems and bring you on track for a future of data sharing and patient empowerment, toward better health and better health care for all.
