Achieving Data Liquidity Across Health Care Requires a Technical Architecture

EDITOR'S SUMMARY

While data is recognized as key to individual and wide-scale healthcare improvement, the absence of interoperability among supporting technologies obstructs progress. There is no single technical architecture that links medical information systems, such as electronic health records and medical devices, to enable seamless data flow. The lack of a consistent platform undermines patient outcomes and efficiency and increases cost and complexity. An interoperable technical architecture is the basis for data liquidity and the efficiencies it can deliver. Such a platform must use a standards-based interface and support plug-and-play integration, one-to-many communication and real-time two-way data exchange. The Center for Medical Interoperability advocates for and leads research in developing the architecture for a vendor-neutral platform. Healthcare systems must exert pressure through the procurement process for vendors to develop compatible systems.