Becker's Hospital Review

38 CIO / HEALTH IT What the Oracle-Cerner deal could mean for EHR interoperability: 7 insights By Jackie Drees O racle's proposed $28.3 billion acquisition of Cerner could pave the way to reduce patient data silos and interoperability challenges among hospitals and health systems, some analysts predict, according to a December 2021 report in e Wall Street Journal. Seven insights: 1. e wide range of EHR platforms and lack of interoperability among healthcare organi- zations hinders providers from easily sharing patient records, which, in turn, limits insights on patients' health. e Oracle-Cerner deal, expected to close in 2022, aims to create a cloud-based platform that could potentially alleviate these data sharing challenges, said Natalie Schibell, a senior analyst at market research firm Forrester. 2. By acquiring Cerner, Oracle said it will be able to provide clinicians with digital tools that will make it easier to access information from the cloud. 3. Enterprise tech providers such as Oracle entering the EHR space could support the development of a 360-degree view of the pa- tient, Jason Warrelmann, healthcare and life sciences global director at robotic process automation maker UiPath, told the Journal. 4. Success of craing a whole-person view of the patient will rely on the ability to add tools that let different EHR systems communicate and bridge information hosted in the cloud at corporate data centers, Mr. Warrelmann said, adding that there needs to be interoper- ability of clinical data as well as information in the contact center, case management and mobile applications. 5. Tom Miller, a senior fellow specializing in health policy at the American Enterprise In- stitute, echoed Big Tech companies' abilities to alleviate interoperability challenges: "It's the big enterprise tech operators who know- how to do this on a scale way beyond what any particular hospitals or even a health re- cord system can handle." 6. Despite Big Tech's resources and potential, however, there will still be challenges in a deal such as Oracle's and Cerner's, including data siloing among various other cloud providers, Mr. Miller said. 7. Farmington, Conn.-based UConn Health has had continuous discussions with its EHR vendor about transitioning to the cloud, as it offers more opportunities for computing and storage resources and speeds up the process of accessing new technologies, Laura Mar- quez, assistant vice president of IT applica- tions at the health system, told the Journal. n CMS chief outlines data interoperability goals: 5 insights for providers, payers By Katie Adams C MS' goals for health data interoperability focus on standardizing application programming interfaces and streamlining data exchanges. In 2020, CMS published its interoperability and patient access final rule, which ensures patients have access to their healthcare data via a personal app. As outlined in a blog post by CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-La- Sure, the agency is requiring payers to build standard- ized APIs so data is exchanged securely when sent to a patient's chosen app. CMS also will require payers to build standardized APIs for exchanging data with other payers so patients' data will follow them if they change health plans. Below are five other ways CMS said it is working to improve health data interoperability: 1. The agency is exploring what role it should play in managing the healthcare directories patients use to find information on providers. 2. CMS is continuing its work with HHS' Office of the Na- tional Coordinator for Health IT on the United States Core Data for Interoperability standards, aiming to improve data exchange across the healthcare system. 3. The agency is exploring how it can utilize ONC's Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement. 4. CMS is looking for new ways to streamline administrative processes, such as prior authorization. 5. The agency is examining the use of an API based on the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standard for price transparency. n

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