As the healthcare industry trolls through the primordial soup of digitized healthcare, reports like HIMSS Analytics “Medical Devices Landscape: Current and Future Adoption, Integration with EMRs, and Connectivity” will become not only de rigueur but also frequent.

These status checks should indicate the evolution of data exchange, interoperability, and – as mentioned in study’s title – integration. So, while healthcare providers fervently adopt Stage 1 meaningful use criteria and plan for Stage 2, Stage 3 requirements – which tentatively include Device/EMR data interfacing – gestate.

In today’s primitive state what’s the device most interfaced with EMR’s? The defibrillator, at more than 99% of the 800+ hospitals canvassed. But no single hospital had interfaced all 11 devices researched in this survey, although a good percentage had interfaced 8 or more.

So, although Stage 1 & 2 loom, healthcare providers haven’t stopped “thinking about tomorrow.” Use of device/EMR interfaces continues to evolve and spread as indicated by the HIMSS analysis found at this link.

Where does your organization stand in terms of using device/EMR interfaces to augment patient safety, satisfaction, and outcomes? Feel free to reply below.