Integration of electronic patient records and clinical trials on the way
The potential benefits of integrating electronic patient records and clinical trials is expected to promote use of electronic data capture in the near future, says a new report from Frost & Sullivan.
The potential benefits of integrating electronic patient records and clinical trials is expected to promote use of electronic data capture in the near future, says a new report from Frost & Sullivan.
The favourable legislative environment supporting improved accessibility to patient data is encouraging the use of IT and computer-based patient record systems across hospitals in Europe and North America, says Frost & Sullivan.
At the same time, efforts to streamline the functioning of clinical trials while reducing both cost and time to completion, are promoting the expanded use of electronic data capture (EDC).
"The value attached to convergence in terms of increased efficiency, time and cost-effectiveness will bolster widespread industry efforts to achieve convergence of electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical trials," said Frost & Sullivan research analyst Sumitha Kannan.
The speed of such a change is difficult to forecast but Frost and Sullivan projecs it to unfold over the next five to 10 years.
Legislations mandating the use of computerised systems and the growing unrest regarding the time lag in clinical research will motivate a high rate of penetration of EDC and EHR in the initial stages. It will subsequently open up the possibility of an integrated EHR-clinical trials system, the report says.
Currently, several industry summits and conferences are attempting to assemble a range of vendors that might benefit from convergence. The need for unification amongst industry participants is crucial in realising any potential IT benefits. Already, efforts are underway to define common standards, as well as enhance and accelerate clinical trials by linking them to national healthcare patient records networks.
"The union of electronic data storage capabilities present in clinical and healthcare communities alike, will help streamline patient recruitment while eliminating redundant processes like transferring data from the EHR to the EDC template for clinical trials," added Kannan.
An overview of the latest analysis of the Convergence of Electronic Health Records and Clinical Trials (M042 - 48) can be obtained from rmtheodore@frost.com