We have patients on YouTube® proudly displaying a shiny new smile, video recorders the size of cell phones, and dental offices with a social media presence…where are we headed with all this?
For us, the goal is to serve you – our surrounding community – better, and keep you up to date with health care and dentistry information technology. To that end, we pass on a recent article on Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The way technology is advancing, we’re at the point where all of the information we gather – and all of your health care practitioners – is starting to be applied beneficially. The info is actually being put to good use, but all this technology and communications also requires you to pay attention. We ask you to keep communicating, update your cell phones and emails, connect with us on various social media sites, enlist in your own health care and take responsibility!
Here is an excerpt from a recent DrBiscuspid.com article:
Merging with the rest of medicine
At Henry Schein, Roberts sees the big-picture value of the effort to go digital with EHRs. “I do think that if it were possible to have them all in a centralized depository it would tell untold stories of how to diagnose disease and treat it,” he said.
The acceptance of EHRs in dentistry can play a key role in furthering the understanding of how oral health affects overall well-being, he noted. Toward that end, Henry Schein has worked to make the sharing of dental EHRs with other medical professions feasible through its Dentrix software, Roberts said.
“Interoperability is key. EHRs must be able to communicate with other digital systems,” he said. “HL7 is the data standard that is used to exchange patient data between systems, and Dentrix can interact with them. As all medical realms become compliant, we can achieve the opportunity to tie systemic disease in with oral health.”
Carestream’s Patrick agrees. “That should be our goal,” he said. “When you think about oral health in relation to the health of the rest of the body — it’s not separate. The endgame is being able to have the sort of system enabling sharing and connectedness that will lead to greater knowledge of human health.”
