Reflecting On Our IT Progress

In a time of EHR naysayers, mean-spirited election year politics, and press misinterpretation (ONC and CMS do not intend to relax patient engagement provisions), it's important that we all send a unified message about our progress on the national priorities we've developed by consensus.

1.   Query-based exchange - every country in the world that I've advised (Japan, China, New Zealand, Scotland/UK, Norway, Sweden, Canada,  and Singapore)  has started with push-based exchange,replacing paper and fax machines with standards-based technology and policy.   Once "push" is done and builds confidence with stakeholders, "pull" or query-response exchange is the obvious next step.  Although there are gaps to be filled, we can and should make progress on this next phase of exchange.   The naysayers need to realize that there is a process for advancing interoperability and we'll all working as fast as we can.   Query-based exchange will be built on top of the foundation created by Meaningful Use Stage 1 and 2...