From Jacksonville University’s Health Informatics program website:
“While it is true the words interoperability and health information exchange go together, a common misconception about interoperability is that it means health information exchange (HIE).
In an ideal scenario, one does not exist without the other, but it is important to underline the fact the two terms do not refer to the same thing.”
Nice to see Jacksonville University educating about interoperability and health data exchange! This nicely written article lays out the difference they believe exist between the terms “interoperability” and “health information exchange.”
We’ll leave these two points for consideration:
- You can exchange health data without it meeting the requirements of being interoperable (eg, Direct Project)
- Health Information Exchange organizations do not necessarily share their data with HIE members — most only offer views of the data, which we don’t think qualifies as true interoperability.
