What does the health interoperability ecosystem consist of?
The health interoperability ecosystem consists of three main components,
- Individuals
- Systems
- Processes
These individuals, systems, and processes are willing to share, transmit, exchange, and share all forms of healthcare data and information; this information can be discrete or narrative. Within the healthcare ecosystem, there are potential stakeholders such as individuals, patients, providers, payers, suppliers, and healthcare facilities, or hospitals. Each of the stakeholders is involved in the creation and exchange of health data. An effective interoperability ecosystem provides a landscape of seamless and secure data capture and exchange of health information. The information infrastructure of the interoperability ecosystem practices technical standards and protocols.
What are the network exchange architectures in this system?
There are three main types of network exchange architectures that help to coordinate the exchange of healthcare data between individuals, systems, and processes.
- Centralized – Patient data is stored and collected in a centralized database. This exchange architecture has complete control over the data which includes the authorization and record of transactions between participants.
- Decentralized – These are interconnected but independent databases that allow the share and exchange of data and users can access the information only when required.
- Hybrid – The hybrid network exchange architecture has both the elements of centralized and decentralized architectures, which gives the optimum benefits.
How can the smoothest possible exchange of information take place?
To achieve a seamless exchange of health and patient data it is crucial and essential to adopt standards for the various health systems to share. For this very reason, organizations have developed criteria and standards to unify interoperability such as HIMSS, HL7 International, and NEMA. The healthcare industry has developed standards for messaging, documents, terminology, and architectures.
How can we benefit from interoperability in healthcare?
Interoperability allows healthcare systems to work efficiently together which ultimately leads to enhanced healthcare delivery and better patient outcomes. Through interoperability, staff efficiency goes up as paperwork can be replaced by digital tools which reduce the opportunity cost of both time and money for the physician. Patient privacy is enhanced and the risk of data breaches and cyber-attacks is minimized. The HIPAA privacy and security rule has set national standards to protect patient’s medical records and other confidential information. Interoperability is the driving force in today’s world to provide real-time results and improve the quality of care. In the end healthcare professionals and patients both want healthcare efficiency.
