Interoperability is foundational

APIs as building blocks 

Every city needs good infrastructure and digital health is no different.

Good infrastructure helps data get from point A to point B because isolated health data will never give maximum clinical value to providers treating patients. Imagine a patient who uses a sleep tracking device sharing their REM cycle data with their medical provider ahead of a scheduled visit. That is powerful but not done well so far.

This is where interoperability comes in.

Interoperability aims to connect two systems together to share data in accessible and secure ways. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the tool of choice to help move healthcare data from scattered fragments to actionable insights for payers and providers alike.

Although most medical systems struggle with interoperability, the Office of the National Coordinator's (ONC) wants to achieve nationwide healthcare interoperability by 2024 with the hope of real-time data bettering public health and care. Congress and federal agencies encourage API use to unlock EHR data as well. And while there are many privacy and security concerns , 7 out of 10 non-federal acute care hospitals use APIs to allow for patient data access.

A $7.8B global market aims to solve digital health complexities like value-based care, home care solutions, remote patient monitoring and AI through seamless data sharing.

Solving for interoperability is a must.

The challenge will be empowering patients to then use their health data alongside providers and payers in a clear way that improves outcomes and lower costs.

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In the News

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Interoperability--The Key To Digital Transformation in Healthcare 

Maxcode

Highway to health: Unlocking whole patient care through data interoperability

Rock Health

Importance of Interoperability in Digital Era of Healthcare

HealthTech Magazine

Interoperability involves digital health applications that have the ability to communicate with one another. Data sharing conserves the time and effort of staff. Standards are a set of rules that allow information to be shared in a uniform and consistent manner across any application. They are approved and published by an authoritative official organization. The "Integrated View" is applied to intelligently integrating all of a particular system application. EHR Interoperability allows for better and more timely decision-making, particularly in critical situations. It is built on consensus to make sure that different systems can talk to each other.

Industry Voices--Can care at home succeed in the long term? Not without interoperability

Fierce Healthcare

3 strategies for leveraging APIs in digital health

Tech Crunch

Greater Collaboration Needed for Digital Health, Interoperability

EHR Intelligence