The Interoperability Imperative: A Smarter Strategy for Connected Healthcare Experiences

Our healthcare system is brimming with cutting-edge tools: AI-powered diagnostics, remote monitoring devices, and advanced EHR systems, to name a few. But there’s one critical experience that still feels startlingly analog: the patient journey.

A single episode of care might involve a meeting with multiple providers, heading to the lab, and making a stop at the pharmacy, but the patient’s information doesn’t always follow them. Instead, patients often find themselves repeating their medical history, resubmitting forms, and waiting for records to be faxed or manually uploaded.

These gaps are symptomatic of a deeper issue. Despite widespread digitization, healthcare remains fraught with fragmented systems that don’t talk to each other. Interoperability, the kind that enables systems to exchange, interpret, and act on information in real time, remains more aspirational than operational.

To improve outcomes and elevate the care experience, we need unified systems that support smart, seamless access to data. Because when health systems fail to connect, even the most sophisticated tools can’t deliver what patients ultimately need: care that’s coordinated, responsive, and built around them.

Why interoperability matters for the patient’s journey 

Interoperability in healthcare has historically been defined by the bare minimum. If data could technically move from one system to another, the job was considered done.

Standards like HL7 and CDA helped establish basic communication pathways, but they often left providers with PDFs, static formats, and unstructured data that still needed to be manually interpreted or re-entered.

These early efforts leave much to be desired. When systems don’t communicate clearly with one another, patients must fill in the gaps — repeating their medical histories, flagging missing information, or following up on test results that haven’t been transferred.

These disconnects don’t just frustrate patients, they compromise their quality of care. A missing colonoscopy image, an electrocardiogram or a cardiology consultation report can have real health consequences.

That status quo is no longer acceptable. Today’s patients expect (and deserve) a healthcare experience where their information follows them seamlessly — from ambulatory visits and hospital stays to payer systems and back-end administrative functions like billing, scheduling, and care coordination.

In an increasingly digital world, meaningful interoperability requires more than just data sharing. It requires real-time access, contextual understanding, and the ability to take action across systems.

Consider transitions of care, for instance. When a patient is discharged and referred to a specialist, interoperability ensures that records like unstructured medical records, and discharge notes are available instantly. This helps prevent repeat tests, accelerates diagnoses, and supports safer – treatment decisions.

Or consider emergency situations, where every second counts. Imagine a clinician knowing a patient’s allergies and medications, previous imaging results, and entire health history within seconds. A connected record can be the difference between treating the right condition and missing a critical diagnosis.

Ultimately, interoperability is about delivering better care, ensuring that every provider, at every point of the journey, has the information and insights they need to act quickly, confidently, and collaboratively within a truly connected system.

Redefining interoperability in the modern era 

Organizations have made meaningful progress and significant investments in digital systems. But interoperability remains a persistent challenge, with many organizations stuck navigating outdated technologies, inconsistent data standards, and entrenched silos that block the flow of critical information.

Solving these issues will require a more comprehensive approach to unify systems, simplify access to information, and support care that’s seamless from start to finish.

As you work to refine your organization’s interoperability strategy, focus your efforts in the following five key areas.

     1. Invest in open, standards-based architecture.

The underlying architecture of your technology is critical. Closed platforms may promise a quick launch or out-of-the-box functionality, but that convenience often comes at the cost of flexibility and long-term scalability.

Open standards like FHIR, SMART on FHIR, XDS, DICOMweb, IHE Profiles, MHD and HL7, on the other hand, support modular integration, minimize vendor lock-in, and provide a foundation for innovation that can evolve with your organization. The more open and adaptable your architecture, the easier it becomes to innovate, collaborate, and respond to evolving care demands.

This flexibility is especially critical for effective workflow integration. When data flows freely between systems, it can be embedded directly into the tools clinicians and care teams already use, whether that’s the EHR, bedside interface, or discharge planning system. The result? Clinicians, administrators, and care coordinators can act on information without toggling between systems.

     2. Prioritize data usability (not just access).

Data exchange is only valuable if the information can actually be used. That’s why semantic interoperability is essential. Patient records must retain their meaning across the care ecosystem to ensure data is understood and actionable where it is needed.

Usability becomes especially important in complex, ongoing care scenarios. Chronic disease management is a prime example. A patient with diabetes benefits most when their primary care provider, endocrinologist, nutritionist, and digital health tools all contribute to and draw from cohesive data environments.

Without that level of integration, care becomes fragmented, and your patients pay the price.

     3. Embrace cross-organizational collaboration.

Healthcare doesn’t just happen within the walls of a hospital or clinic. It increasingly happens across a network of providers, payers, and community organizations, even in patients’ homes and workplaces. True interoperability requires collaboration beyond your own organization to include partnerships with other health systems, public health agencies, and insurers.

Initiatives like Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) and national standards such as Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) are designed to enhance these partnerships by enabling a secure, standardized data-sharing network. Likewise, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) are enabling more flexible, app-based data sharing that supports broader partnership and data exchange.

     4. Focus on patient-centric data exchange.

Patients aren’t passive participants in their healthcare; they’re active and informed. They expect their digital healthcare experiences to be on par with what they see in retail, finance, and the rest of their everyday lives. In fact, 3 in 5 patients now access their health records, including their medical images, online or via an app — and this trend continues to grow.

That means your patients should be able to view medical images and associated reports on a mobile device, share records with a new provider, or manage their health data without unnecessary friction.

Supporting tools like Blue Button 2.0 and interoperable patient portals make that possible. These platforms give individuals the ability to view, manage, and share their information on their terms, helping you create a healthcare experience that’s more transparent, personalized, and truly patient-driven.

     5. Establish strong governance and privacy controls.

As you expand data sharing, your approach to data governance must also scale, with policies, oversight, and accountability frameworks that align with HIPAA, consent regulation, and your organization’s internal risk frameworks.

These frameworks can’t be treated as afterthoughts. They require active leadership buy-in, sustained investment, and governance strategies that are embedded into your organization’s culture, workflows, and values.

A new blueprint for connected care 

In the coming decade, healthcare organizations will face growing scrutiny based on their ability to coordinate care effectively and deliver measurable health outcomes. As you work toward those goals, moving data between systems alone won’t be sufficient — your data must move smarter, faster, and with greater impact across the care continuum.

By embracing interoperability as a foundation for patient-centered care — and committing to infrastructure, partnerships, and workflows that keep data flowing — you can empower patients and providers to move through the healthcare system with greater clarity, confidence, and continuity.