Interoperability, and why it is the whole problem
A record that cannot move is a record that will be recreated from scratch by the next clinician who sees the patient.
Stated plainly
In both the public and the private sector, a patient's investigation data — laboratory results, images, reports and medication history — together with case notes are scattered, and are not available to the patient when they want a second opinion. Institutions are not connected to exchange the data even though the patient is the subject of it.
Hospitals provide a brief discharge summary with a prescription, but not the information generated during the stay — which is the point of care, and which needs to be put together and made available to the patient and to the health professionals connected with them for follow-up.
Vendor-neutral applications
Four things, all of them
A shared identity
Or you cannot tell whether two records describe one person.
Read more →A shared exchange format
FHIR R4, so a message means the same thing at both ends.
Read more →Shared meaning
Terminologies, so 'anaemia' is the same concept in two systems.
Read more →A consent mechanism
Or exchange is either blocked entirely or done improperly.
Read more →Read the full argument.
Referral, evidence and closing the loop.