From Connectivity to Real Provider Usability

Enhanced Reconciliation for Healthcare Data

Disclosure: This research brief was produced with support from Cerner Corporation given our shared interests in educating users about these important nuances of cloud deployments. You can be confident that even when producing sponsored content, our objectivity in presenting the materials is fundamental to our credibility and mission, so these are developed to be educational, never promotional.

Healthcare users are best served when their information needs are met. Invariably, those needs include access to data from outside the organization itself. Combining local and outside data for users is the best way to ensure they have access to a comprehensive up-to-date patient record. 

Clinicians will make more informed decisions if they have access to information from other organizations and parts of the healthcare system. No healthcare organization (HCO) has all relevant data about a patient within its own electronic health records (EHRs) and other applications. They must rely on organizations across their connected community to assemble a complete complement of high-quality deduplicated patient data. HCOs also need to be well positioned to take advantage of new and evolving data classes by integrating them into the patient’s chart over time. 

This research brief describes an approach to enhanced data curation (de-duplication and reconciliation) that will support the integration of any outside data sources and data classes into a patient’s chart. It meets the organization’s need for more satisfied, efficient clinical users by satisfying clinician’s need for complete information and simplified workflows. 

Key Takeaways:

  1. HCOs need an efficient and controlled way to deduplicate and integrate new outside data into the patient record. 

  2. Enhanced reconciliation reduces clinician burden and preserves the ability to exercise professional judgment. It increases patient satisfaction because clinicians are informed and up to date about their care needs. 

  3. Better usability improves clinical and financial outcomes and enhances the organization’s return on its EHR investment. 

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