Interoperability
Interoperability is a workflow problem, not a file-format problem
Moving a record between systems is the easy half. Landing it where someone will act on it is the hard half.
GHEIT · · 5 min read
Health data exchange is usually discussed as a technical problem: which standard, which format, which endpoint. That framing understates the difficulty, because a record that arrives correctly and lands nowhere useful has not achieved much.
Arrival is not integration
A document that appears in an inbox nobody reviews, or as an attachment disconnected from the chart, has technically been exchanged. Clinically, nothing has changed. The information has to arrive at the point in the workflow where a decision is being made.
What useful exchange looks like
- Information lands in the workflow, not merely in the system
- Context follows the patient across settings of care
- Exchange is bi-directional by default, not on request
- Supporting services are connected, not treated as external
Standards make exchange possible. Whether it is useful is decided by workflow design.