I recently was talking with an EHR vendor and they made the comment that having their EHR all on one database was a distinct advantage over the EHR vendors who install a new database with every new EHR install. I was intrigued by the idea and could easily see some of the benefits of an EHR vendor having all of the EHR data in one database. When you think some of the future quality programs that could come out, I think there could be some advantages there as well.
Considering this advantage, I started to think about ways that multiple database EHR vendors could level the playing field with their single EHR database comrades. One idea I had was using interoperability to level the playing field. If all the EHR vendors have access to all of the data, then not only will single database EHR vendors not have an advantage, but they’ll be at a disadvantage if they don’t work to exchange the EHR data as well.
When I think about this, it makes me wonder why multiple database EHR vendors aren’t accelerating the exchange of health information. This seems like it would be to their strategic advantage to exchange information.