2022 Predictions for Healthcare Interoperability

As we head into 2022, we asked the Healthcare IT Today community to share some predictions for the new year.  I always find it interesting to learn what people think is coming down the road.  Be sure to check out all our Health IT Predictions.

If it seems like we’ve been talking about interoperability forever, it’s because we have.  However, what people don’t realize is that it takes about a decade for an interoperability standard to mature.  We should fix that, but it is what it is until we do.  Plus, you have to remember that most healthcare organizations didn’t want to share data.  That seems to be starting to change and that’s reflected in these interoperability predictions.

Here’s a look at some of the 2022 healthcare interoperability predictions we received:

Scott Stuewe, President and CEO at DirectTrust
Some assessments say EHR companies have stopped innovating – I think this is part of the natural cycle where companies need to catch up on an accumulation of regulatory requirements. The market is focused on finishing incomplete work this year to comply with mandates in the last 3 years of rules from both the ONC and CMS. For example, FHIR access for the required scope of the information blocking rule is becoming broadly available in certified EHRs, but appropriate security and identity assurance remains a work in process.

In general, there will be a finishing and hardening of security and usability work underway. It’s possible we see an enabling of consumers to get records access from all the data sources with a single identity credential. New specifications that are finalizing like the Event Notifications via the Direct Standard will need to be implemented so the receivers of event notifications can complete usability enhancements that depend on it. We also expect we will see more organizations adopt existing standards that improve usability like closed-loop referrals that leverage 360x over the Direct Standard.

Dr. Stephen Powell, CEO at Synensys, LLC
The future of interoperability will become increasingly dependent not only on the quantity and accessibility of health data but also on the quality, agility, and integrity of the data being transferred, migrated, and managed. Better data quality measuring and monitoring systems will be needed in the future especially with the increasing use of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) and increasing data migrations between EHRs.

Data agility and integrity relies on highly reliable data that minimizes semantic loss, decreases data ambiguity, improves clinical decision support, and reduces frontline provider burden due to data errors and unnecessary system complexity.

Emad Rizk, President and CEO at Cotiviti
The pandemic has further exposed the shortcomings of the fee-for-service model in healthcare, highlighting the critical need for a shift to value-based care in the years ahead. Unfortunately with COVID-19 cases on the rise once again, providers’ full attention is on caring for patients and staying afloat = leaving little room to focus on implementing value-based reimbursement. That said, with more than $1 trillion estimated in wasteful spending within the healthcare space, leaders need to stay on the path to value-based care.

2022 could be a time to set the stage for the years ahead even if implementation won’t be doable just yet, by improving transparency, aligning goals and strategies of payers and providers, and identifying actionable insights. The path to participation and success will be clear with new supportive technologies helping stakeholders to create high-performing networks, guide patients to high-value providers, expand the scope and reach of existing programs, and monitor, measure, and improve performance. All facilitated by a robust interoperable dataset infrastructure that has capacity for a single patient identifier.

Joe Montler, Chief Customer Officer at Surescripts
URGENT NEED FOR INTEROPERABILITY. The industry is generating more patient data from more sources than ever before. The problem is, meaningful data isn’t always available at the right time, in the right place, for the healthcare professionals who need it. Providers’ access to and use of clinical insights will be an essential part of improving the patient experience and care for patients in 2022.

Adnan Qadir, Chief Strategy Officer at Surescripts
BETTER CARE MANAGEMENT. We are still seeing delays in treatment 20 months into the pandemic, which will, unfortunately, lead to a rise in chronic conditions diagnoses and cost burdens to the whole system. Care management, disease management and other services can’t rely on manual processes to address this systemic issue. In 2022 we’ll see better access to actionable patient intelligence and enhanced information sharing to help manage at-risk patient populations.

Therasa Bell, President & CTO at Kno2
2022 will be the year of leveling up.

  • Health plans, ACO’s, provider networks and other risk bearing arrangements will be the point of pressure for the healthcare industry because of their concerted effort to have real-time access to clinical data.
  • Standards and national networks that have been evolving for years will see maturity in their existing spaces and push into new parts of the market including post-acute, behavioral, social, and others. In addition, these networks will continue to evolve past the traditional use cases and vendors and provide opportunity for many to participate in innovative health information exchange models.
  • Large and small provider alike will continue to focus and smooth out manual processes that became points of failure early on in COVID and prevent healthcare automation from moving forward. Staffing, remote workers, telehealth has forced healthcare to fix what doesn’t work before moving onto “star wars”.
  • FHIR will continue to gain momentum, but still largely be a future play as other existing, mature, and adopted standards for health information exchange maximize their value. Patients are demanding access to their information largely to make up for the major failure of the exchange of information between providers involved in their care. Given the choice, patients would request information exchange be fixed between their care providers before demanding access to their own information.

Gregg Church, President at 4medica
Providers and payers rely heavily on data such as patient medical histories and social determinants of health (SDoH) to make decisions about clinical courses of action. Lab results also are a key source of data for clinical and payer decision-makers, which is why it is imperative that lab data is high quality. Indeed, for labs, better data quality equals more valuable data for themselves and other healthcare stakeholders (including patients). Quality data is nothing less than the fuel that powers value-based care and improves patient outcomes.

Mario Hyland (@interopguy), SVP at AEGIS.net, Inc.
Indeed 2021 has seen some significant advancements in the health IT industry. We continue to see the advancement of HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR, captivate the implementation community’s interest.

We further expect in the coming year the volume of “new” Use Cases (Implementation Guides or IG’s) which seek to leverage the FHIR infrastructure to explode. And this is not just a US phenomenon, as we see many countries exploring how to engage new technology and business cases with the support of FHIR.

But, I think one “factoid” that will standout in 2022 above all others (with respect to Interoperability) is the sheer number of “New” Organizations which are entering the Health IT space with products, services, or technologies (e.g. wearable devices). Organizations whose products and services are nearly entirely built/based on FHIR implementations.

As FHIR Connect-a-thons continue to grow beyond 1,000 attendees, we believe HL7 has correctly assessed the market place. Efforts such as launching their new “Implementation Division” to support industry as it attempts to implement (or integrate) FHIR-based services into their products will provide key capability to interopate with the FHIR-Integrated Ecosystem.

Whether it is in support of the US 21st Century Cures Act HHS/ONC or HHS/CMS FINAL Rule, the Netherlands’ Nictiz and Medmij Program, or Ontario Health/Pan-Canadian/International Patient Summary (IPS) – FHIR is clearly captivating an entirely “new” community seeking to enter the Health IT Industry, and 2022 will be the year!

Look to groups like the FHIR Business Alliance (or FHIRBall for short) to expand the community’s FHIR knowledge, spread awareness about health interoperability and build more interoperable FHIR solutions around the world.

James Bateman, CEO at Medchart
APIs for a competitive edge. The 21st Century Cures Act requires providers to implement APIs that give patients easy, digital access to their data, which they can then share at their discretion. As a result, providers are working with tech companies to ensure compliance with this regulation. The API development trend could also be bolstered by the reintroduction of digital projects delayed by the pandemic. Healthcare companies will adopt APIs as a way to gain a competitive advantage in the digital healthcare ecosystem.

Stoking the FHIR confusion. While some forward-thinking healthcare organizations have adopted the fourth version of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards, many are still working under the older versions. Without a mandate to upgrade to the latest versions of FHIR, many organizations will maintain the status quo to avoid the additional costs and business disruption of updating. It’s likely these organizations will follow the path of large tech or health companies.

Decentralization of health data via blockchain. Decentralized health data will become a more frequent discussion. Patients are not only demanding greater control of their health data, but also their security. Blockchain has the potential to do just that and we’ll see research in this ramp up in the coming year.

Mohammad Jouni, Chief Technology Officer at Wellframe
As we see EHS interoperability standards emerge, there will be new companies that will create services aimed at making it easy for organizations to achieve interoperability. The more these platform services emerge, the easier it will be to build on top of them, and the cycle will continue. Competition in this space is beneficial, as it generates more use cases and value for all organizations looking to attain interoperability.

From what we’re seeing, cutting edge health plans are the ones that are most likely to invest in an API infrastructure internally in 2022, leaning a lot into Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). That can be a double edged sword: Plans that use custom APIs often create a more difficult experience for the consumer, as data becomes siloed and their healthcare journey becomes one where they have to re-explain information to multiple people. To be successful, health plans will need to combine their API investments with investments in usability and patient experience.

Eric Rosow, CEO at Diameter Health
Data interoperability will be a top priority in 2022, and I anticipate that we will be able to help organizations achieve strategic goals by enabling the sharing and deployment of complex clinical data seamlessly. In 2021, lack of interoperability of clinical data made it exceedingly challenging to battle COVID-19 and the ability of health organizations to efficiently share patient data with consumers, providers and partners. As the market increasingly recognizes the potential of complete and timely clinical data to help provide insights into the health of individuals and populations, it is more important than ever to focus on seamless healthcare data exchange – as seamless as our daily digital experiences. The importance of clean, clear and precise clinical data exchange has never been more evident than it is now and will drive better health and a more efficient healthcare system and ultimately, accelerate the industry’s goal of data liquidity.

Rob Cohen, CEO at Bamboo Health
As an industry we are entering 2022 during an incredibly unprecedented era – a period in which technology continues to demonstrate its potential to dramatically improve our lives. Now it’s time for our healthcare system to deliver this same level of user experience and outcomes. Digital health solutions and evolving value-based care payment and delivery models are creating an opportunity to impact patient care like never before, and we believe that interoperability sits at the heart of this change.

In order to deliver on this promise of better care, we must ensure that providers across the care continuum have access to real-time patient data, intelligent insights, and the ability to collaborate with other providers via an interoperable care coordination network. Whether these patients are at home, in an emergency department, at a behavioral health clinic, or beyond, an interoperable infrastructure provides the real-time clinical intelligence and workflow tools needed to successfully prioritize and deploy services while also ensuring for seamless care transitions. The result? The opportunity to deliver higher quality care with better patient outcomes at a lower cost and ultimately, change healthcare as we know it for the better.

Damon Auer, Chief Executive & General Manager of North America at Dedalus
Every American deserves life, liberty, and health equity. To redefine a flawed and expensive healthcare system towards equity, we must ‘set the data loose,’ provide consumers with access to their own health data and establish trust as a two-way collaborative partnership that is sustainable and ensures a healthier future.

If you have other predictions you’d like to share, do so in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

   

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