Interoperability is the selected term for this discussion paper. Interoperability refers to the ability of two or more applications to work together effectively. The applications work effectively without affecting the information being transmitted from one device or organization to another. Interoperability also refers to the sharing of information between healthcare providers or public health partners through healthcare technologies (Kelly et al., 2020; Li et al., 2022; Reegu et al., 2021). Healthcare technologies should be interoperable to ensure the sharing of health information among healthcare providers and institutions.
Interoperability is important to healthcare. Firstly, interoperability enhances access to and sharing of information among healthcare providers. The enhanced access and sharing facilitates timely decision-making, which improves patient outcomes in the care process. Interoperability also promotes efficiency in healthcare organizations. It eliminates unnecessary costs and time that organizations spend in moving data across systems. Interoperability also improves communication in healthcare organizations. Interoperable systems provide meaning to the information being shared (Li et al., 2022). This improves care coordination among healthcare providers who are involved in the provision of patient care services.
Interoperability also improves safety in the patient care process. Interoperable systems enable healthcare providers to access the latest patient information from electronic health records. This access helps eliminate medical errors in the decision-making process. For example, healthcare providers can access information about medications a patient is currently using and prescribe medications in a way that eliminates the risk of drug interaction and adverse events (Burse et al., 2021). Interoperability also ensures the delivery of patient-centered care. Interoperable systems enable patients to access their health-related data whenever they need it. The enhanced access facilitates timely decision-making and the provision of high-quality care to patients when the need arises. Healthcare providers do not experience challenges in obtaining any relevant medical information for decision-making (Kelly et al., 2020). Therefore, interoperability is beneficial to healthcare.
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Kelly, Y. P., Kuperman, G. J., Steele, D. J. R., & Mendu, M. L. (2020). Interoperability and Patient Electronic Health Record Accessibility: Opportunities to Improve Care Delivery for Dialysis Patients. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 76(3), 427–430. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2019.11.001
Li, E., Clarke, J., Ashrafian, H., Darzi, A., & Neves, A. L. (2022). The Impact of Electronic Health Record Interoperability on Safety and Quality of Care in High-Income Countries: Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(9), e38144. https://doi.org/10.2196/38144
Reegu, F., Daud, S. M., & Alam, S. (2021). Interoperability Challenges in Healthcare Blockchain System—A Systematic Review. Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 15487–15499.