The new federal incentives for medical records adoption are encouraging, following standards defined in recent past years for better data leverage, we still have a practical gap around records transportability.  Positive and negative examples abound; but it is reassuring to report a recent example in the form of the recent re-vamp and re-release of the Surgeon General’s Family Health History, as recently reported in the media at http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/

2009/01/13/tracking_red_flags_in_family_history/ .

 

This online solution has been designed to be “EHR ready” and is available as a module that can be integrated to existing EHRs and the code base modified for integration (https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/popup/getHelp/helpDetailsLearnMore.action). Family history context for care is a valuable tool for diagnosis and prediction, and this add “meat” to existing clinical solutions that may lack this data. The solution is represented as a platform for patient and provider partnership, as shared responsibility will be required to fill in the health data landscape for patients over time.

 

But while I am encouraged by  Health and Human Services’  launch of the history tool, and the subsequent encouragement and framework  linking it to EMRs (or PHRs or other mechanisms) as a key building block to effective, leverageable, and portable data  associated with more widespread EMR/EHR/PHR adoption, I am surprised that private industry hasn’t moved further in modularizing and making standards-ready the multiplicity of patient and provider solutions leverage web delivery. Private industry, wake up! Time for a focus on integration, not competition.