(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a note from UNMC Business and Finance.)
Across the health care spectrum, hospitals and health care systems collectively grapple with the need to share patient information.
There is a growing need to easily send and receive patient health care information between institutions and providers.
However, with a multitude of different technologies and information protocols, the transfer of patient information is complicated.
The central issue is that electronic patient information is not easily transferable between divergent and disconnected systems because such data is stored without reference standards.
In response, The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC have spearheaded an initiative to develop internal standards and software to translate these diverse data for use in accessible databases.
The Data Interoperability Council will establish institutional guidelines for new medical software systems as well as set the standards for internally built systems to access, export or create databases within The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC.
These efforts will be important to:
- Develop regional health information networks that are planned;
- Support statistical analyses of data to improve health care outcomes; and
- Enhance research applications.
Contact James Campbell, M.D., at 559-7505 for more information about the Data Interoperability Council.