Why Interoperability Is Critical to a Successful RPM Program

According to the American Medical Association, there are nearly 1 million specialist medical providers in the United States, all with unique technological needs and systems. These specialty practices can operate very differently from primary care physicians’, but they often share the same patients. 

Each medical encounter contributes to patients’ unique health records. Patients today have more options than ever for monitoring their health on their own. More data available means providers can offer more holistic care — if they can access it.

What is Interoperability?

In technological terms, interoperability is the ability for computer systems or software to exchange and use information. Information must be transmitted in specific ways — and, in the medical field, according to government regulations for privacy — and can only be received and deciphered by computers in specific formats.

As the variety of online tools grows in the 21st century, so do their needs for technical integration. Linking various tools, applications, and data feeds to one another reduces administrative data entry tasks. Interoperability allows these systems to safely and effectively integrate into one another with little or no effort from support staff.

With enough interoperable tools integrated into a system, patient health records and care plans can become more personalized and providers more informed. Benchmark Systems’ new remote patient monitoring app and portal were built to connect data sources and software systems to ease administrative burdens while improving patient care.

Interoperability in Healthcare

As we mentioned, healthcare professionals face unique challenges with the interoperability of their practice management systems: namely, security and compliance. HIPAA created national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge. This is why patient data must be stored in private, secure databases with user authentication systems to limit and track access.

No matter how robust an online tool is, it must meet rigorous standards for security first. Then it must be able to integrate with secure databases storing sensitive patient information. Depending on what software a provider uses to manage their practice, this software connection can be very difficult to establish and manage.

Recognizing a need, the nonprofit organization Health Level 7 International (HL7) developed international standards for healthcare technology interoperability to improve patient outcomes worldwide. HL7 established and released FHIR (fast healthcare interoperability resources), a standard for data formats and elements, and an ‘application programming interface’ (API) for data exchange. These standards are incredibly important for software developers to build tools that can be integrated into existing systems.

Helping Patients with Benchmark RPM

Remote patient monitoring technology allows patients to collect and store their medical information themselves – and our RPM solution leverages that information to deliver the best possible outcomes to patients. Thanks to Benchmark RPM’s exceptional interoperability, the patient can link that medical data to several providers’ systems, regardless of how different those systems might be. 

There is no single standardized, state-sanctioned software suite for healthcare professionals in the U.S., so practitioners and practice managers are free to choose the best solutions for their needs. But people are complex, and their medical requirements can be extensive, spanning multiple practices with unique specialties. Each medical encounter generates a whole lot of data, especially if patients have chronic conditions that should be monitored on a daily basis.

Fortunately, by uploading patient data to the Benchmark RPM patient portal, all of this information can be translated, parsed, stored, and transmitted between separate practices and their respective software systems. Software interoperability can eliminate or significantly reduce delays and administrative bottlenecks within practice workflows. When systems can communicate with one another, the link is nearly instantaneous and free from human error, giving staff more time to focus on patient care. Our foolproof app/platform combo puts the power in patients’ hands without the worry of navigating a complicated technological system, and patients know their data will end up right where it needs to.

Helping Providers with RPM

Providers can also benefit from the speed with which technology can communicate changes in patient data, whether the provider is sending or receiving updates. By connecting software systems to multiple data sources, providers can gain additional insights into patient health and trends without further burdening supporting staff or patients themselves. 

Automated alerts can communicate urgent news that requires special attention. Smartphone access to patient records means less time spent in the office. Tools like remote patient monitoring technology can directly feed biometric data from patients’ smartphones into our secure, cloud-based RPM portal, which can disseminate that data to any connected system employed by your practice.

Our patented solution connects disparate data sources, aggregates data, and provides data insights for assistance with:

• Population Health
•  Risk-based contracting
•  Care plans and test histories
•  Claims data
•  Remote monitoring data
•  PCP notes
•  Hospitalization records
•  Multiples Solution all in one location

Each data set is valuable, but insights derived from their combination is invaluable. Interoperability can increase practice efficiency and profits by speeding up processes and saving the whole team from tedious administrative tasks, while improving patient care and patient outcomes.