Connecting hospitals and physicians

Connecting hospitals with physicians is a big, costly problem no matter how you slice it. Some vendors may offer secure connections with physicians, but their products aren't cheap and implementation can be a bear. Lighter-weight, cheaper solutions may not be robust or secure enough for your needs. And then there's the issue of getting physicians to agree to connect up their systems at all.

What's worse, some hospitals have found that they can't even give away EMRs to some practices, which makes the issue of connecting clinical systems even harder. Even with the OK from HHS and the IRS to go ahead with the donations, hospitals are finding that they need to focus on other issues first.

So what's a hospital to do? At this year's TEPR, the discussion goes on. Listen to hear about a wide variety of solutions, including everything from physician portal options that bypass the need for direct connections with physicians, to full-on EMR projects. Also, ask around as to whether your colleagues are at the point of connecting up to RHIOs/HIEs, which may offer some new opportunities.

Still, even though it's been chewed over for many years, this remains one of the most difficult problems to face health IT leaders. We're eager to hear what you find out.

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