In comments directed to National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, regarding the proposed 2015-2020 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, Premier healthcare alliance urged the requirement of open source software architecture or open application program interfacing to facilitate interoperability.
The letter indicates many interoperability challenges are due to "locked" health IT systems that silo data and disable the ability to connect and exchange information with other IT systems.
By requiring open source code architecture, providers would have secure, innovative applications to integrate data with other systems, according to the letter.
"Should open source code enabled applications or open API for standardized data sets necessary in various care settings become the norm for HIT assets, API enabled applications can quickly access HIT assets for the necessary data, providing faster, more cost-effective integration of data necessary to providers and patients, and facilitate quicker, more reliable decision support as well as timely alerts in various forms, such as through secure mobile devices," reads the letter.
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