22
The Diagnostic Information
System (sm)
How Did We Get Here?
Paper Bureaucracy and “Information Silo” Era:
•Reporting and sharing
of patient test results in the $2+ trillion U.S. healthcare industry based on
paper, telephones and fax machines. (”The excellence of the status quo is a sentimental illusion.”—Donald
Berwick, MD):
•Ambulatory and
hospital EHRs and the few fully operational HIEs display share and print test result reports using a variable,
fragmented format design. No
standardized, clinically logically format is yet available that integrates (unifies) results from different data sources. (Legacy
industry business model: “Physicians want customization, not
standardization.”)
•Universally negative
results for all stakeholders: Unacceptable rates of test duplication (14-30%) and medical errors and an enormous
waste of time and money. (“The
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”—Albert Einstein)
Emerging Interoperable HIE Era:
•Data integration and
interface usability are paramount and sharing all healthcare data types in the same way is mandatory.
(“Know where to find the information
and how to use it. That’s the secret of success”—Albert Einstein)