Interoperability: Health IT's hardest problem is (finally) at an inflection point

A new survey from the American Telemedicine Association assesses the current state of data exchange standards for remote care and offers best practices for health systems looking to capitalize on its potential.

Three experts discuss how application programming interfaces help enable system interoperability, and describe what the role of APIs will be in the future.

The iPhone app enables patients to access data about medications, immunizations, labs and receive notifications.

InterSystems HealthShare VP Don Woodlock explains some recent examples of how customers are putting the technology to work improving pop health outcomes and increasing revenue.

The National Coordinator talks 21st Century Cures, information blocking, Apple, consumerism, FHIR, open APIs and new business models he sees emerging amid the "overarching theme of human choice and freedom and dignity."

The vendor, one of the first to use the new version of the HL7 standard, is also offering advice for how providers can take advantage of the spec for better interoperability.

Case study: The EHR vendor's Happy Together technology enables the health system to incorporate data from patient portals from other healthcare organizations into its MyChart portal.

Former U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra said that CMS embracing FHIR means an end to any fight over data standards.

The research firm's big takeaway from Orlando this past month: Newly empowered patients and the proliferation of data they bring will boost the business case for exchange – and have "cascading effects" for cloud, AI and more.

The group, called Interoperability Matters, will focus on addressing the remaining challenges obstructing data exchange and is open to "broad private and public sector participation," officials said.

Health systems are set to focus on declining reimbursements and patient experience, a new study found.

Organization says 5 will build on FHIR 4 with more normative content, support for apps that use multiple versions of the spec and other advancements.

And there’s already one in the JASON Report from 2014 that was eclipsed by the industry’s excitement about open APIs.

At the White House, technology heavy-hitters promise to work together improving data exchange by embracing FHIR, the Argonaut Project and more.

Ongoing data sharing problems demonstrate that industry standards are messy and road bumps should be expected.

A new partnership with Holon Health enables real-time push of key patient information to network providers, regardless of their IT system, cluing them in to data they need to tackle care variation across the ACO.

No, interoperability will not be completely solved – but an architectural feat that's about to happen will ignite FHIR and API innovation and bring bright new developer minds to healthcare.

Pew’s director of HIT Ben Moscovitch says consumers prefer biometrics, notably fingerprinting, facial recognition and iris scans, for a unique identifier.

Research firm says vendors and HIEs are making headway with information sharing but providers face a learning curve in using outside data.

More than 90 percent of non-federal acute care hospitals are using 2015 edition certified technology or plan to be soon, says National Coordinator Don Rucker, MD.