A lack of interoperability among electronic health record systems used by participants in accountable care organizations "inhibit[s] progress" toward a value-based care environment, according to a new report produced for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Health Data Management reports.

The report was prepared for ONC by Robinson & Associates Consulting LLC (Slabodkin, Health Data Management, 11/4).

According to an ONC blog post, health IT is "crucial to successful value-based payment arrangements." For example, EHRs:

• Allow providers to access patient data and evidence-based treatment guidelines to make informed decisions; and
• Help providers use population health management and registry tools to address high-priority patients ("Health IT Buzz," 10/31).

Report Findings

The report found that while EHR adoption is increasing, interoperability issues persist among ACOs.

The report found that:

• Few ACO participants have access to reliable claims data;
• Inconsistencies caused by different methods of implementing quality measures may result in extra manual work for providers or the use of translational software at the organizational level when reporting; and
• Providers have trouble with taking consistent clinical quality data from EHR systems for the purpose of creating reports on EHRs in accountable care (Health Data Management, 11/4).

The report concluded that there is a "gap between the needs of the health care sector and the readiness of vendors in the health IT market to meet those needs" (Robinson et al., ONC report, October 2014).