As CommonWell enters 2014, it’s critical that we, its founding members, translate our enthusiasm for interoperability as a common good into clear value for the health care industry. Early in the year, we will begin to show the world that the underlying workflows we’ve been developing across each of the founding members’ platforms are progressing, and most importantly, will become the information rails from which information will flow and patient care will improve.
CommonWell’s work will have tremendous impact on the patient and provider experience. Health care as it exists today is, from the patient’s view and for too many providers also, largely a paper-based process. This is in stark contrast to being digitally equipped and backed in so many other aspects of our lives. By making interoperability a living, breathing achievement, we’ll see patients and doctors spending less time on administration, dealing with fewer redundancies, and—we fervently believe—we’ll see better coordinated care emerge.
athenahealth’s participation in CommonWell derives from the same mission our employees wake up each morning to advance: help doctors do well by doing the right thing, and change healthcare in the process. We at athenahealth are excited to make it easier for doctors and vendors to share information along the continuum of care like never before. My personal hope is that CommonWell’s work will effect another, subtler change, something which we at athenahealth hold dear: returning the sanctity of the patient-provider experience. As a collaborative group at CommonWell, we look forward to sharing updates on our progress throughout 2014.
Take a look at the video below to hear to some of Jeremy’s thoughts about CommonWell’s direction and mission.
Jeremy Delinsky, chief technology officer – athenahealth, was elected as CommonWell’s first chairman of the Board in October 2013.