Introduction: Why Fragmentation Is Costing More Than You Realize
AI, traditional machine learning, and deep learning are projected to save the U.S. healthcare system between $200 and $360 billion annually [1]. The opportunity is massive—but are health systems truly ready to capture it?
On the surface, it seems so. Healthcare leaders are doubling down on digital transformation, with spending in North America alone expected to exceed $152 billion by 2027. But dig deeper, and a different picture emerges.
According to the Rhapsody 2025 State of Interoperability Report (coming soon), while 70% of healthcare organizations plan to advance their digital maturity, more than 40% still spend 10–20+ hours a week troubleshooting data issues. This isn’t a minor setback—it’s a symptom of deeper fragmentation: manual processes, siloed data, and fragmented EHR data integration quietly draining resources and stalling transformation.
In this article, we’ll unpack:
- The real-world costs of disconnected systems
- What the data shows about integration maturity and performance
- The traits of strategically interoperable systems
- How to uncover and eliminate hidden costs in your own environment
Let’s take a closer look at what these hidden costs actually look like—and why the systems that can’t see them are often the ones paying the most.
The Real-World Cost of Disconnected Systems
Siloed data and outdated integrations don’t just slow down IT—they quietly erode performance across every area of the business. Below are three core ways this fragmentation impacts healthcare systems, with real symptoms to watch for:
1. Operational Inefficiencies
Manual workarounds and delayed data access drain your team’s time and resources. Without reliable EHR connectivity, clinicians and operational leaders are forced to make decisions without real-time insights.
Common signs:
- IT teams are overwhelmed by EHR interface issues and integration inefficiencies.
- Clinical or operations staff relying on outdated reports or manual exports to get answers
- No centralized view of patient data across systems or facilities
- System upgrades requiring significant interface rewrites or manual intervention
Real-world example:
- UnityPoint Health replaced its patchwork of point-to-point interfaces with Corepoint Integration Engine — allowing it to achieve 1,000+ days of no unplanned downtime. By modernizing their EHR integration software, the health system significantly reduced maintenance costs and improved uptime for all users.
2. Missed Revenue
Disconnected systems and EHR Integration challenges don’t just delay care—they delay cash flow. Without EHR and interoperability frameworks in place, systems fail to exchange accurate and complete data. This leads to revenue cycle processes breaking down, leading to denials, billing delays, and missed reimbursements.
Common signs:
- Frequent delays in billing due to missing or mismatched data
- Increase in claim denials or errors caused by inconsistent EHR workflows
- Financial reports that rely on manual consolidation across departments or systems
- Limited ability to analyze cost-per-patient or identify reimbursement risks
Without reliable data, financial leaders make decisions in the dark—exposing the organization to ongoing revenue loss.
Case in Point:
Great Lakes Medical Imaging (GLMI) faced exactly these challenges. Relying on fragmented, point-to-point interfaces across multiple facilities, GLMI encountered frequent billing delays and manual rework that slowed revenue cycles. By partnering with Rhapsody, they replaced over 20 fragile connections with reusable EHR APIs, streamlining workflows and reducing manual intervention. The result? Faster, cleaner data exchanges that accelerated reimbursement processes and improved financial visibility across the organization.
3. Strategic Stagnation
Legacy infrastructure can quietly lock organizations out of future growth. When innovation is limited by outdated tools, legacy electronic health records (EHR systems) can’t keep pace with evolving demands—from regulatory shifts adopting innovative solutions.
Common signs:
- New applications or vendors take months to onboard due to custom EHR integrations
- Fragmented data pipelines that can’t support analytics or predictive modeling
- Lack of governance or standardization across data sources
- Overdependence on a small number of staff or vendors to manage integration
Without scalable, API-driven integration, strategy stalls.
To unlock the benefits of EHR interoperability, health systems need a modern approach to connectivity — one that enables real-time data exchange, seamless EHR system integration, and full visibility across care delivery.
Benchmarking the Cost: What the Data Shows
The hidden costs of fragmented systems aren’t just theoretical—they’re backed by real-world data.
According to our 2025 State of Interoperability Report (coming soon), many EHR health systems remain stuck in reactive mode, with compounding challenges that stall progress and drain resources:
- 55% cite legacy infrastructure as their biggest barrier to interoperability
- 42% point to budget constraints
- 58% struggle with vendor or staffing limitations
A report from the Journal of Patient Safety reinforces the magnitude of these issues: poor communication and data gaps contribute to more than $11 billion in avoidable healthcare costs in the U.S. each year.
These roadblocks don’t just slow down projects—they delay transformation, increase risk, and prevent organizations from capitalizing on strategic opportunities.
In contrast, top performers leveraging advanced EHR API integration and centralized orchestration report greater resilience, agility, and profitability. These organizations aren’t immune to constraints, but their strategic approach to integration allows them to move faster, adapt with confidence, and unlock more value from their data. By investing in scalable infrastructure, streamlining workflows, and eliminating redundant tools, they’re better equipped to improve care delivery and capture ROI from digital innovation.
In contrast, top performers leveraging advanced EHR API integration and centralized orchestration report greater resilience, agility, and profitability.
What Strategic EHR Data Integration Looks Like
Top-performing health systems don’t view integration as a one-time IT project—they treat it as a strategic enabler of transformation. These organizations invest in strategic interoperability: a future-ready approach that aligns systems, workflows, and data around a unified vision.
Key traits include:
- Centralized orchestration – Integration strategies are aligned across departments, vendors, and endpoints—reducing redundancy and increasing control.
- Scalable architecture – Reusable components, API-first frameworks, and cloud-native design enable faster deployments and easier upgrades.
- Proactive monitoring and governance – Real-time visibility into data flow, integrity, and compliance ensures issues are flagged before they escalate.
These systems aren’t just avoiding costly downtime—they’re unlocking agility. Strategic interoperability gives them the infrastructure to respond faster, innovate sooner, and drive measurable improvements across clinical, operational, and financial domains.
How to Identify and Eliminate Hidden Costs
Wondering where inefficiencies may be hiding? Start by looking for these red flags:
- Frequent manual fixes or “workarounds”
- Significant time spent on routine work
- Repeated rework or broken integrations
- Missed reporting or analytics deadlines due to inaccessible or poor-quality data
These signs point to a fragile integration foundation—one that’s slowing you down and limiting your strategic potential.
The first step is visibility.
Use a maturity model to assess where your organization stands across core dimensions of interoperability. From there, you can prioritize improvements that reduce cost, increase agility, and prepare you for what’s next.
Conclusion: From Patchwork to Performance
It’s time to move beyond reactive EHR integration strategies that patch problems instead of solving them.
As West Virginia University Health System (WVUHS) discovered, shifting to a centralized, scalable platform isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a strategic unlock. Amid rapid M&A growth, WVUHS reduced interface development time by over 50% using Rhapsody, eliminating delays that previously hindered expansion and operational efficiency. This agility allowed their teams to integrate new hospitals faster, scale securely, and deliver on strategic priorities without overburdening IT resources.
Strategic interoperability isn’t just a technology goal—it’s a business imperative. It’s the difference between treading water and accelerating transformation.
[1] David M. Cutler et al., The potential impact of artificial intelligence on healthcare spending, National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, number 30857, January 2023.
