Dental EHR interoperability and the CommonWell Health Alliance

CommonWell Health Alliance is a group of the nation’s top electronic health records (EHR) vendors dedicated to creating and implementing industry-wide EHR interoperability.

There is growing standardized technology that supports interoperability between patient records… dental EHR to dental EHR and dental EHR to medical EHR. However, currently, there is no uniform patient identification system for EHR interoperability nationwide, and that puts a completely consolidated patient record at risk and limits the ability of EHRs to “talk” with each other. This is one major area that CommonWell is working on.

Interoperability is vital for EHR platforms because it supports communication of patient records between different EHR systems.This gives the patient’s care team, consisting of various providers, a common tool to work and collaborate with. It also supports oral systemic health and enhances and streamlines the referral process in a secure, HIPAA-compliant way.

CommonWell’s solution to EHR interoperability will lead the evolution of EHR platforms and improve patient safety across the nation. MacPractice is the first dental software vendor to embrace this complex project. All members of the CommonWell  Alliance have dedicated time, money and company resources to figure out a solution to EHR interoperability.

In a recent episode of the Dental Software Advisor podcast, Mike Uretz interviews MacPractice CEO Mark Hollis and discusses MacPractice’s involvement with CommonWell, the benefits of EHR interoperability and the future of this technology.

About the author

Mike Uretz is a nationally recognized dental software and electronic health records (EHR) expert. He is the founder of  dentalsoftwareadvisor.com, as well as the Dental EHR Editor for Dental Products Report and conducts a popular podcast on dental software related topics. As a leading industry consultant and educator, Uretz has helped both individual and group practices evaluate and select software vendors and solutions, structure and negotiate vendor contracts and provide vendor management. He also has assisted practices with obtaining subsidy payments through the federal EHR Incentive Program. Uretz can be reached at mikeu@dentalsoftwareadvisor.com or 425-434-7102.