The surfeit of healthcare technology has the potential to improve the industry's efficiency, costs and outcomes, but little progress can be made when this technology remains fragmented.
Here are the three key levels of interoperability in healthcare, according to Frost & Sullivan's Interoperability Among Connected Medical Devices Can Potentially Transform Healthcare report.
Level one (low): Functional
The first level of interoperability involves basic standards of exchanging data between health IT solutions, according to the report. In this level, health IT solutions do not have the ability to interpret the data they receive.
Level two (intermediate): Structural
In the second level, data can be interpreted. A structure is created that ensures clinical and operational data meaning remains constant.
Level three (high): Semantic
At the third level, disparate solutions will be able to exchange information. Healthcare IT systems will be able to exchange, interpret and use data.