In issuing a “Request for Information” on interoperability of medical devices, data and platforms to enhance patient care earlier this year, the National Science Foundation shared its “Future Vision” of a healthcare system with interoperability. (Boldface added by Repertoire.)
- When people with serious injuries or illness are hospitalized, medical device additions and changes are automatically recorded with no deficit in patient safety, loss in data fidelity, or data security as the patient transitions across the continuum of care.
- Additional medical devices can be added or removed as the patient’s status changes, and details of these changes, calibration of the instruments, and each equipment’s unique device identifier [UDI] and configuration settings are recorded and synchronized.
- If a piece of equipment breaks, it can be switched seamlessly with a device from another vendor.
- Data and settings from patient medical devices, such as insulin pumps, are identified, integrated, and time synchronized, and select data are included in the electronic health record.
- As autonomous capabilities are added, real-time care is logged, and supervisory control established to ensure the provision of real-time patient monitoring and support.
- Data flows through changes in equipment that occur in moves from the emergency room, to the operating room, to the intensive care unit, to a rehabilitation facility, and finally to the home.
- Each change in equipment configuration is noted in the supervisory system/medical record and in the metadata (g., the UDI) generated by the device. The resulting patient record from these systems will include device data, metadata, and care documentation.
- Patient records are stored and analyzed using medical black box recorder-equivalents to assess adverse events or examine unexpected positive outcomes. This helps create a learning health system.
Seamlessly flowing, interoperable data from medical devices and systems, when used effectively, could enhance patient outcomes, identify and reduce errors, enhance the efficiency of care delivery, reduce development times and costs, improve standardization/consistency of care delivery, and decrease healthcare provider burnout, according to NIH.
Other industries (e.g., automotive, aviation and energy) have achieved high levels of interoperability, notes the agency. It’s time for healthcare to join them.
Source: Federal Register, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-02-15/pdf/2019-02519.pdf