Interoperability is not just a buzzword anymore, healthcare companies are building this standard into their platforms. From medical device companies to AI programs, healthcare delivery is on the brink of transformation thanks to FHIR® and other interoperability efforts. Vendor agnostic worklists for diagnostic devices, datalakes, virtual care apps, and risk analysis algorithms were all on display at HIMSS utilizing interoperability standards available in HIT systems today. Healthcare leaders continue looking for better ways to reduce costs and improve care by integrating disparate systems and aggregating new datasets.
What was apparent at HIMSS is that not all data generated in the healthcare continuum has the same provenance, and exchanging mechanisms may vary across use cases. The healthcare industry continues discussing interoperability standards – through groups like HL7 and Da Vinci – to land on the right methods and formats of exchange. Electronic Medical Records have solidified a commitment to FHIR for data exchange that is accepted by integrated systems from imaging systems to data warehouses. Innovators for quality, patient experience, research and diagnostics are trying to find how to connect and compute using interoperability standards to obtain and share data with different origins and identifiers for improved care and reporting. One size does not fit all with interoperability.
I enjoyed seeing the focused pavilions specializing in Federal Health, Cybersecurity and Innovation Hub. These centralized stations displayed the collaboration for these specific markets in the healthcare system. Leaders are discussing the determinants to make this data exchange across populations meaningful. Technology is at the intersection of population health management, person centric care and innovation. It is exciting to see how these areas intersect to improve the lives of patients.
There was a steady flow of visitors to 1upHealth booth seeking to better understand our approach to generate FHIR and compute claims and clinical data on the 1upHealth Data Cloud. These have been two traditionally siloed datasets that were based on antiquated standards, such as CCDs, X12s and 837/835s. We had productive meetings with several customers, discussing how our platform can work for their system needs and future integrations. Future customers wanted to hear about our tech stack, understand how we are creating the 1upHealth Network and meet the people that make 1upHealth culture unique. The transformation of claims and clinical data into FHIR allows faster exchange of this data, less conversion and more access to our consumers.
Last week at HIMSS, we shared our vision and function of computing claims and clinical data in FHIR, and the industry experts and innovators responded … “You are onto something.”