Interoperability of health data: where are we now?
Initiatives to create health interoperability standards started over 30 years ago. Interoperability seems a logical way forward. Nevertheless, most patients still experience poor levels of information sharing between their care providers.
Lack of interoperability leads to lack of data when and where it is needed
Luckily recent evolutions such as more solid data protection initiatives and new techniques, e.g. artificial intelligence and natural language processing, will magnify the value of connecting health data and boost the efficient use of interoperability standards.
Why is there a lack of interoperability in health care?
Even if standards in health care are not new, many health information systems have created their own methods to compile, assess and store health data, for the single purpose they were intended for, e.g. clinical follow-up, research, reporting, quality improvement or financial administration (patient invoicing, reimbursement by health insurance). Each of these areas organises the data they need in their own unique ways, making it hard to share information between them.
The data was often meant to stay within the same system. As health data is more and more re-used for additional useful purposes and to enable collaboration between different parts of the health system and with research, the urgency to smoothly exchange data is hampered by the large number of information silos which cannot always be easily connected.
Furthermore, there is a lack of understanding of the benefits and requirements of interoperability amongst stakeholders, and a lack of pressure and financial incentives by governments to make this a reality.
And finally, the diversity, overlapping scope and many optional features of interoperability standards make it hard to select the best suited standard for each kind of health data.
