Health · Idee
Interoperability is not a standards problem
The formats exist, the interfaces are documented, the standards were settled years ago. Yet medical practices still send faxes. The problem is not the technology.
In four sentences
- Technically, interoperability is largely solved. Economically, it is not.
- Data silos are not an accident — often they are a business model.
- Holding on to data defends a lead that slows down care.
- Young vendors can win here: offer export and open interfaces from day one and you become the preferred partner.
The technical problem is smaller than its reputation
There are formats for almost everything that needs to flow between two systems in healthcare. There are reference implementations, test environments, and enough people who can build this. When two organizations want it, their systems are connected in a manageable amount of time.
So if the technology is not the brake, it is worth asking who benefits from the status quo. Usually the answer is uncomfortably simple.
„Hold on to data and you are not holding a lead — you are holding the patient."
Silos are a business model
A system that makes data hard to get out locks in its customers. That is no coincidence and rarely malice — it is a calculation that worked for years. Every export feature lowers the barrier to switching, and switching barriers were long the most stable asset in this market.
The price is paid elsewhere: by the doctor typing the same values three times, by the nurses waiting for a letter, and by patients carrying their own history around in photocopies. Hold on to data and you are not holding a lead — you are holding the patient.
What a young team can make of this
This is exactly where the opportunity lies. If you are building fresh, you have no legacy to defend and can make the opposite your promise: documented interfaces, complete export without negotiation, data that belongs to the people it is about. That costs you a defensive moat and buys something better — partners who want to connect.
My yardstick for health products has therefore become simple: I don't ask which standards are supported. I ask how long it takes to get all the data back out. The answer says more about a company than any roadmap.
Questions about this
Why does interoperability in healthcare work so poorly?
Not for lack of standards but for lack of incentives: systems that make data hard to get out lock in their customers. Data silos are often part of the business model.
What can young health vendors do better?
Offer open, documented interfaces and complete data export from day one. That makes them the preferred partner in a market that runs on the ability to connect.
How do you recognize a connectable health system?
By the time it takes to get all the data back out — no negotiation, no project, no surcharge.
