CMS and HL7 hosted their annual FHIR Connectathon this month, bringing together technology developers, payers, providers and interoperability experts to test real-world applications for patient access, prior authorization and healthcare data exchange. CMS introduced an updated version of its Beneficiary Claims Data API. The goal is to provide organizations with claims information sooner while reducing the time and cost associated with integrations and data reconciliation.
Important Initiatives, Yet Where Is My Complete Medical Record?
A claims record can show that a service occurred, but it doesn’t show the progress note explaining why it occurred. A patient portal may display lab results from one health system but not results from an independent specialist. Imaging reports may be stored separately, and the actual image stored in yet another area of the EHR. Medication lists may be incomplete, outdated or duplicated across multiple EHRs. This is where we are. Even when healthcare organizations participate in data exchange networks, information can still depend on successful patient matching, participating organizations, compatible technology and available access. This is not connectivity. This is not useable information at the point-of-care. This is the same issue we’ve had for 20 years.
Connectathons, HL7, FHIR and APIs. Still Limited Connectivity
Standards alone do not create a complete, accessible medical record. APIs can help systems exchange certain information, yet clinicians still spend valuable time searching through portals, requesting records, reviewing incomplete histories, and trying to determine which version of the information is accurate. The issue is no longer simply whether data can move. The real question is whether the right information is organized, searchable, and available to the clinician when a patient is sitting in front of them. Too often, the answer is still no.
Gaps In Care Have Real Life Consequences
When clinicians cannot see the full picture, patients are asked to repeat tests, reconstruct their own medical histories, track down results, or make decisions without all the necessary information available. Care can be delayed or fragmented, important details can be missed, and valuable appointment time can be spent searching instead of treating. Interoperability should not be measured only by whether systems can exchange data. It should be measured by whether complete, usable information is available wherever and whenever care is delivered.
This Is The Role MedKaz® Was Designed To Support
MedKaz brings medical records from different providers, health systems and EHR platforms into one secure, portable and searchable health record controlled by the patient. Clinicians can quickly review medications, allergies, procedures, test results, imaging reports and progress notes without logging into multiple portals or searching through disconnected systems. This saves 3-8 minutes per patient encounter. Because patients carry their MedKaz record with them, their complete medical information is instantly available anywhere, at any time, even during travel, in the ER, or during an internet outage. MedKaz does not replace interoperability initiatives. It addresses the practical gap between healthcare data that can theoretically be exchanged and healthcare information that is actually available during the patient encounter.
One Record. Any Provider. Every Visit.
The real measure of that progress will not be how many systems can exchange data. It will be whether the right information reaches the right clinician at the moment it is needed, in a usable format, and whether patients have access no matter where their lives take them. Find out more about MedKaz. For less than a cup of specialty coffee each month, patients have secure, portable access to a complete medical history. In an emergency, that access is priceless. https://medkaz.com/get-medkaz/
