The healthcare industry has been trying to wrangle data for nearly three decades when healthcare providers first began to digitize patient information in the 1990s. Since then, interoperability, or the exchange of digital data across healthcare systems, providers, and payor networks, has become one of our industry’s biggest challenges.
In response to these challenges, more than 50% of CIOs and CMIOs from the top U.S. health systems said they were planning to spend 5% to 20% more on interoperability in 2023 compared to last year.
To better understand how interoperability is impacting private practices, we surveyed AdvancedMD customers. The primary takeaway: Interoperability challenges are causing major headaches for private practice owners across the board.
The Challenges of Interoperability: AdvancedMD Survey Results
What’s your primary interoperability challenge?
We asked private practices to name their primary challenge: disparate systems, lack of data migration, or lack of data standards. The resounding response: all of them. More than 40% of the survey respondents answered “All of the above” when given the list of options — just over a quarter of respondents said a lack of data migration capabilities and only 20% said lack of consistent data standards.
Are your interoperability challenges impacting patient outcomes & financial outcomes?
Nearly half of the respondents agreed that interoperability challenges are impacting both patient outcomes and financial outcomes. Just over 40% of respondents said, while they did have interoperability challenges, the challenges were not impacting patient outcomes. Thirty-five percent said their interoperability challenges were not impacting their financial outcomes.
Who’s the biggest culprit when it comes to interoperability challenges?
According to our survey findings, more than 40% of respondents said that insurance companies and clearing houses caused the biggest headaches because of ineffective data exchange processes. Second to insurance companies and clearing houses: other private practices and healthcare providers. Only 10% of respondents said that Medicaid and Medicare accounted for their biggest interoperability challenges and 20% said hospitals.
If your private practice is currently struggling with interoperability challenges, AdvancedMD can help. Watch our video on The Power of Interoperability, visit our virtual practice webpage, or schedule a call with an AdvancedMD representative to see our all-in-one EHR, practice management, and patient engagement solution in action.