Some of the largest health care systems in the country are opposing a rule aimed at improving your access to patient records

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a rule designed to make it easier for patient medical information to be shared across platforms. The largest electronic health records company and sixty health systems have drafted oppositions. The rule would then also make that information easier to access by patients. 

Leading the charge is Epic, the country’s largest electronic health records (EHR) company. EPIC systems are found in the offices of many of our health care providers in Washington.

Not all EHR systems are compatible. Proprietary EHR systems in hospitals and specialists’ offices have a hard time “talking” to each other. The aim for DHHS’s rule is to reduce waste and unequal access to information by making all EHR systems able to communicate. This would, in turn, make it easier and faster for patients to get care across multiple providers (especially significant when receiving specialized care), and, finally, access their own medical records. 

Epic and the health systems, have (unsurprisingly) stated their opposition is due to increased cost and short timeframe to fulfill the new requirements. It often costs as much as $1B ($1,000,000,000) to fully transition a health care system to an EPIC EHR. 

On the other side, data giants like Apple and Google are embracing the proposed rule changes. 

EHRs that don’t talk to each other sacrifice efficiency

For patients like you and I, this battle between accessible and protected information continues to evolve. Patients do not typically know that their different doctors may operate on completely different EHR systems. When EHR systems do not talk to each other, healthcare is less efficient. For example, a patient will get a referral, but the specialist must rely on critical medical information sent via fax; and the may not be fax before the visit. The patient will have to return when the fax is finally made. The stakes, of course, get higher with more dangerous conditions.

We believe that by and large patients benefit from transparent processes and improved access to information. Improving the efficiency of those access channels should help to improve your care.

Read more here: Epic’s CEO is urging hospital customers to oppose rules that would make it easier to share medical info