The Great Divide: Research reveals continued interoperability gaps in post-acute care

74% of referring providers say they are likely to change post-acute partners to those they believe can more effectively process electronic referrals. Download the report to find our summary of key findings from the second annual Porter Research survey of post-acute care leaders and referring physicians regarding interoperability progress.

Interoperability is a term that is often discussed but more often misunderstood in the healthcare industry. It has been the topic of much debate as tens of billions of dollars have been poured into changing the US healthcare industry from paper to electronic.

It’s been more than a decade since the federal government started subsidizing the “meaningful use” of electronic healthcare record (EHR) systems for acute and ambulatory care providers and beginning the journey to interoperability. But one of the biggest flaws in their strategy was and continues to be leaving the post-acute care (PAC) providers out of the loop… and leaving them behind.

Now, we find ourselves in the Great Divide – with nearly 100% of acute and ambulatory providers doing business electronically and expecting their downstream counterparts in post-acute care to keep up. The purpose of this paper is to help the industry determine how far apart we really are and what PAC providers need to consider as we enter the second decade of trying to achieve true interoperability across the healthcare continuum.