Interoperability Supports Compassionate Care When Families Lose Loved Ones

“Imagine losing a loved one and then continuing to receive healthcare appointment reminders for months afterward. Families across America experience this type of insensitive outreach every year because there isn’t a coordinated system to notify doctors when people die outside the hospital, ” write Michael Burns, PhD, MD (Michigan Medicine) and Ladd Wiley (Epic) in an op-ed published in Healthcare IT Today.

Using industry standards like FHIR, Epic is making it easier for states and providers to securely share death data—without faxes or clunky portals. States like Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, and Texas are already taking action to modernize these processes with legislative support and Epic’s technology.

Together with partners like Michigan Medicine, we’re building tools that help ensure families are treated with dignity, clinicians have accurate patient records, and health systems can focus on care—not paperwork. The technology is ready. Now it’s time for all of us—state governments, providers, and EHR vendors—to move forward.

Read the full article from Healthcare IT.