From Tiffin to Coldwater, from Pauling to Upper Sandusky, orthopedic patients in Northwest Ohio are never far from one of the offices of the Orthopaedic Institute of Ohio (OIO). But the more important point is this: No matter which office provides care, the distance between the patient and that patient’s records is essentially zero.
Since ancient times, humans have used silos for the storage of crops. Efficient and sometimes elegant, such silos have helped sustain and advance human civilization. In the last century or so, however, humans have begun putting data into silos, with decidedly mixed results.
In 1969, microbiologist René Dubos won the Pulitzer Prize for “So Human an Animal,” an eloquent exploration of how technology must respect the uniqueness and value of human lives.
“Like the evolutionary development of mankind, the experiential development of each individual person consists in an integrated series of responses to environmental stimuli,” Dubos wrote. “In most situations, the effects of the total environment on the body and the mind must therefore be interrelated.”
Your providers thrive when they have access to the latest information on health, illness, and treatments. A 2006 study by the American Medical Informatics Association concluded that when physicians need good information they seek out gold-standard sources, including high-quality medical journals and reputable websites that specialize in their area of expertise.
With healthcare data constantly flowing in from multiple sources, how are providers supposed to best organize patient information within their EHR? Truly knowing your patient population starts by finding a means of aggregating scattered data and then funneling it into a convenient and organized system.
People everywhere will turn to online marketplaces like Amazon® or eBay® to purchase gifts for friends and family. Now, imagine the frustration that would ensue if these companies made a decision to only allow access through a single browser and on a specific type of mobile device.
Users want the freedom to be able to access a website from any browser, on any device, and any operating system. This same need for independence and ease of use carries over when providers need to access healthcare data between EHRs. FHIR is the means of achieving this.