How Interoperability & Patient Matching Have Impacted the Health Care Industry

Interoperability and patient matching are two processes that are helping Health Information Management professionals establish a link between a patient’s medical history and their socioeconomic needs.

What is Interoperability?

Interoperability is when different information technology systems and software applications can communicate, share, exchange, and interpret health care-related data.

This process also helps physicians make more informed decisions regarding which treatment options are best for their patients.

What Are the Benefits of Interoperability?

Some of the benefits of interoperability are:

• Patient records are more complete and accurate
• Medical mistakes are less likely to happen
• Increased productivity for health care employees
• Costs associated with data collection and storing are decreased
• The cause and effect of potential treatments are easier to predict

What is Patient Matching?

Patient matching refers to the process that compares information from different health IT systems to confirm which data belongs to which specific patient.

This process also compares patient demographics, making it possible to integrate data from different providers. It also gives health care professionals a more accurate account of a patient’s condition and medical history.

What Are the Benefits of Patient Matching?

Some of the benefits of patient matching are:

• Health-related data is able to be used for multiple purposes
• Health care providers can offer a more “patient-centric” caliber of care to patients
• Hospital administrative costs will be cut
• Patient data can be more readily integrated from different providers and health IT systems

How Does Combining Interoperability & Patient Matching Benefit the Health Care Industry?

One of the major benefits of combining analytical tools and social needs data is that this helps health care professionals determine if their patients are suffering from any social determinants of health-related issues.

What are Social Determinants of Health?

Social determinants of health are factors that help doctors make correlations between where a patient resides, what kind of environment they live in, what they do for a living, and their health care needs.

This data also helps physicians track a patient’s treatment history, assists patients in making more informed decisions about their treatment options, and assists health care professionals in determining which form of treatment will best suit their patients’ overall needs.

Some other factors that determine this are:

• Safe and affordable housing
• Education
• Public safety services
• Quality health care
• Healthy food choices
• Local emergency services
• Exposure to any life-threatening toxins
• Economic stability
• Exposure to any crime, violence, or social disorder

What’s the Goal of This Data?

The goal of this data is to help make health care professionals all over the world more aware of how the socioeconomic conditions in which people live can help determine their health care needs.

Where Can I Get the Training I Need to Get Into the Health Information Management Field?

Hocking College offers an Associate of Applied Science in Healthcare Informatics. Applicants can receive the hands-on training they need to go from student to graduate in only four semesters.

For more information, contact Healthcare Informatics Program Manager, Jade Cover, by email at coverj@hocking.edu or by phone at (740) 753-6417.