The Joint Commission established WikiHealthCare to solicit input from the thousands of healthcare providers on topics related to Standards Development & Research. I came across a section that discussed the need for standardized data definitions across facilities, providers, and computer systems that could promote continuity of patient care. After working in other industries that standardized catalog entries across the globe, I had a couple of things to say.
A taxonomy consensus is certainly required for healthcare to improve patient care. There is, in fact, a gap in continuity of care across providers and facilities.
The potential roadblock to adoption of standards is lack of preagreement on these standards. In other industries, the road to consensus was a long drawn-out process, often due to the exponential cost of converting to the standard but not insurmountable (e.g. UN/EDIFACT - United Nations Directories for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport). Software tools are available in the marketplace that can facilitate conversion to a standard taxonomy/data dictionary.
Given the spectrum and magnitude of the various types of healthcare facilities, providers and interested parties, an appointed multi-disiplinary task force is recommended to establish the standards and facilitate adoption. Expect an outcry from the general industry (e.g. HIPPA standards), but the outcomes for patients and care providers outweigh the negatives.
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