Incremental, small efforts for big success
Interoperability continues to be a work in progress which was evident at the recent the State Health IT Connect Summit.
When it comes to data sharing and data standards, “we’re not going to solve this problem overnight,” said John Supra, CIO of South Carolina’s Department of Health & Human Services, one of the speakers during the event. “It’s going to take a lot of time.” A good starting point, he said, is building common elements, such as common rules, policies or definitions.
States have different needs and objectives, said Joe Bodmer, director of the interoperability initiative at the Department of Health & Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. He believes in incremental improvement, he said. “We do not have to do it all at one time.” But it can be hard to break through different agencies’ agendas. By picking low-hanging fruit—“something that’s innocuous to all the various programs”—communities can establish governance and trust and begin to work toward larger projects.
Smaller projects teach people how to play together, said Bodmer. “These projects should have a charter that lays out roles and responsibilities and then you have a comfort zone because people know how to work together.”
Bodmer said communities have been successful by looking at shared users rather than shared data. “We want states to get creative and innovative.” Come up with good, valid reasons why these programs should be part of waivers and funding, he said. “We’re putting tools out there for states. Take advantage of them. Use them.”
Sharing a small amount of data “can accomplish something very big,” said Supra. He also is interested in finding ways to share the good ideas that worked in one state. “There are very different states but they have some of the same challenges. We want to figure out how to apply bits and pieces in different states. That level of thinking is what lets us drive change a lot more incrementally than we have in the past.”
Starting small and working incrementally seems to be the path to successful interoperability.
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.