Healthcare players are actively blocking data sharing

CHICAGO — Five years ago, only 20% of physicians used electronic medical records (EMRs). Today, 80% use them.

Since the enactment of the HITECH Act, which required that EMRs be adopted across all healthcare providers, the federal government has invested more than $28 billion toward their use.

And, yet, EMR data sharing between disparate vendor platforms, geographically dispersed facilities and unassociated medical institutions remains at a virtual standstill.

Experts at the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference here this week said the industry knows the problem isn’t a technological one; it’s about the money. By keeping their software proprietary and unable to exchange data, or by actively blocking the use of protocols that would otherwise allow it, vendors can corner their respective markets.

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