Understanding Interoperability and Health Information Systems
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Understanding Interoperability and Health Information Systems
The presence and use of health information systems are now a part of our life, from which there is no going back. Their use is unavoidable and inevitable. The document that best symbolizes the delivery of health IT systems is the electronic health record (EHR). The success of health information systems, of which the EHR is a crucial part, depends on the level of interoperability of systems.
Understanding interoperability
Interoperability can be described as the capacity of the various information systems and software and other applications to receive and transmit and IT-related information and blend with each other seamlessly. The various points between which IT-related data and information are exchanged are the critical players of health IT, such as the patient, physician, the pharmacy, the healthcare provider, and the laboratory and so on.
Easy and unhindered flow of health information between these nodes is of utmost important for the smooth running of health IT systems. So, interoperability and health systems are inseparable partners with each other. It is impossible to think of health systems that are not interoperable.
Challenges of interoperability
Interoperability is an indispensable element of healthcare information, as we have just examined. Given this fact and despite its importance to health IT systems; there are challenges to interoperability. The main challenge relates to the fact that there are diverse EHR systems that the IT ecosystem has to handle. Transmission of data between different kinds of IT EHRs is quite a challenge, given that each has its own way of receiving and sending data. Synchronizing and standardizing these data is quite a challenge, but sound health IT systems can overcome this challenge over time.
Wider uses of interoperability and health information systems
While there is no disputing the role and importance of interoperability with health information systems in the private sector; it is worth examining its ramifications for the social sector.
Health IT being a wide area; its uses are definitely of great reach in the social health sector. When IT systems can be made to accommodate wider data from a larger populace which has access to EHRs and other electronic data; there is enhanced collaboration between different players of the healthcare sector, such as the government. The ability to quickly share data is a great benefit for the social sector as well. This portends great use to the social sector..
