by Patricia B. Mirasol , Producer Data integration and systems interoperability are key components in the digital transformation of healthcare, according to experts speaking at an international symposium by The Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA) and the National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines (NAST PHL). Electronic health records (EHRs) exist in the Philippines, but “EHR data is not collected and curated in a way that is optimized for learning health systems (LHS),” said Dr.
Iris Isip-Tan, a professor at the University of the Philippines Manila’s College of Medicine. An LHS creates a feedback loop of ongoing improvement in healthcare by using data from healthcare encounters. A 2021 BMC Health Services Research publication notes that EHRs are important to an LHS because they provide the data needed to drive this improvement.
“There’s acceptance among clinicians in digital systems,” Dr. Tan said at the symposium on October 30. “The barrier is infrastructure in terms of data connectivity in our islands.
” Good outputs need good data, according to Carmencita D. Padilla, a national scientist and a member of the health sciences division of NAST PHL. “The issue of interoperability is very important if you want to fast-track the issue of integration of data,” she said.
“You have to strategically plan and include budget for it [the digitalization of the healthcare process] in your system,” she added. “The primary .