Within the healthcare system, interoperability refers to the ability of informational exchange between different systems of electronic patient health data. Interoperability focuses on the integration and use of information from different health information systems to acquire better health outcomes for patients. According to Lehne et al. (2019), interoperability presents a significant step in the progress of the digitalization of medicine. However, at the moment, the lack of interoperability across the healthcare system can be perceived as a barrier, and going through this step requires significant resources.
The lack of interoperability manifests in a lack of communication across electronic health systems due to the absence of standard data formats for health records. According to Braunstein (2018), the complexities of clinical data in patient care affect the development of standards for health records. Thus, acquiring interoperability requires developing new solutions that will allow a comprehensive representation of complex medical data and terms. The solutions, in turn, require significant technical support from programming specialists and equipment capable of processing a large amount of information. Moreover, as some systems still use written records, it leaves no opportunity for improvements in the healthcare system’s work due to missing important information. Furthermore, changing the format of written records to electronic data requires time-consuming processing by medical professionals; alternatively, the process can involve highly developed data processing systems.
Therefore, the lack of interoperability is caused by difficulties in developing a standardized format for patient health data due to its complexity and lack of technical resources for data processing. On the other hand, some experts suggest that the transition to interoperability can be facilitated by blockchain technology. For example, according to Gordon and Catalini (2019), the integration of patients-centered blockchain technology in healthcare can be used to develop patient portals where they will be able to exchange information between different systems independently. Thus, the lack of system interoperability represents a complex problem in the development of digital medicine, which still needs significant work, including revision of key principles and mechanisms.
References
Braunstein, Mark L. (2018). Healthcare in the age of interoperability: The promise of fast healthcare interoperability resources. IEEE Pulse, 9(6), 24–27. Web.
Gordon, W. J., & Catalini, C. (2018). Blockchain technology for healthcare: Facilitating the transition to patient-driven interoperability.Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 16, 224-230. Web.
Lehne, M., Sass, J., Essenwanger, A., Schepers, J., & Thun, S. (2019). Why digital medicine depends on interoperability.NPJ Digital Medicine, 2, 1-5. Web.