While these initial actions and federal rules have encouraged greater sharing of data, more needs to be done to achieve full interoperability. For example, payers have a significant amount of data that would be useful to providers as they care for patients. But payers are notoriously protective of this data since it directly ties to their profit models. Finding ways to have more payers participate in data sharing can go a long way to improving overall health outcomes.

Interoperability also can be quickly advanced by leveraging the cloud. Healthcare systems typically run a variety of different systems to house, track and analyze data. There's no doubt that, over time, the health systems have had to contend with connectivity and integration issues that cost them a lot of time, money and headaches for their IT teams. APIs for FHIR will help capture the enormous amounts of data – both structured and unstructured – and put it in formats that support integration and collaboration.


Using cloud-based solutions to promote interoperability can solve the communications challenges between the various applications while offering a centralized platform that can be securely and quickly accessed by hospitals, affiliated medical practices and others involved in patient care. Having these capabilities will make it possible for ER doctors, X-ray technicians and orthopedists to easily consult when that little leaguer breaks his wrist, or allow oncologists and other specialists to build a treatment plan for the grandmother with breast cancer.

By leveraging the cloud to support interoperability goals, healthcare systems, payers, providers and patients can all benefit from easier access to important medical information, allowing for faster decision making, a higher level of proactive care and, ultimately, better outcomes.

About the Author: Morris Panner is the president of Intelerad Medical Systems, leading the company on delivering better care through improved technology. Morris served as CEO of Ambra Health from 2011 until its acquisition by Intelerad in 2021.

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