There were constantly large crowds of attendees in the large interoperability showcase area of the expo floor at the recent Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2023 meeting. After more than 20 years of a major movement in health IT to integrate systems across hospitals through interoperability, some may ask what could possibly be new in this area to still attract so much interest. The answer is that what healthcare seeks to integrate its IT systems with new sources of data all the time. The second reason is that humans play a crucial role in interoperability and they need constant training and to see what is new.
Amit Trivedi, HIMSS director of informatics and health IT standards, explained the trends and why the role and development of hospital IT staff is so important. He spoke with Health Exec at the HIMSS 2023 meeting.
"Interoperability is moving goal post, so folks are here to learn and find out what is new and what they need to be aware of," Trivedi explained. "There are plenty of opportunities, but there are a ton of challenges with interoperability. One of the biggest is around workforce development. When we talk about provider challenges, it is not just the technology, it's insuring they have the folks who can implement, maintain, update and develop the technologies they need to use."
The role of hospitals and providers in developing health IT solutions
It is easy to think of health IT solutions as something you just buy and use, but Trivedi says it is actually more complicated than that and health systems that do not understand this often have issues with their interoperability. He said it is not just all about the software; the humans operating these systems also play a major roll that is often overlooked.
"That is often the missing component. When we talk about solutions, people try to focus on the technology, but it's not just the technology, it is the workflow, the policy and the procedures we build into the technology that matter. I know providers don't want technology that is just thrown at them by a vendor, they need to be developing it with their vendor in a partner-like environment."
This means actively working with vendors to ensure the operability a hospital needs from an IT system is actually what they get. It is rare for a health IT system to work perfectly out of the box. It often requires a lot of work to make it integrate with numerous other hospital IT systems and the EMR.
Beyond working with vendors, providers should enable IT staff to become involved in larger picture efforts, such as helping set industry standards for interoperability. Trivedi said this is not something that happens in a vacuum and magically appears. Instead, it takes a lot of work from committees and developing consensus between vendors and providers at HIMSS, HL7, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) and others.
Trivedi encourages IT staff or clinicians from any specialty in healthcare to become involved because they need input from people who understand how these systems work and how real-world hospital IT workflows operate. The open-standards these groups develop become the industry standards.
"Anyone who wants to learn, I encourage them to jump in and drink from the fire hose and meet the experts. It is an awesome opportunity." He said. "And we are not just looking for technologists, cybersecurity experts or clinical experts. I mentioned interoperability is a moving goal post and we need the entire community involved."
Other conversations with Trivedi on interoperability:
The international patient summary could standardize medical data exchange globally
What missing pieces remain in health IT interoperability?
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com