Operability vs. Interoperability

I can't help but paraphrase a quote that Rendell Requiro, a Technology Analyst at Monterey County quipped when asked about the daunting challenge of creating an interoperable behavioral health care system capable of sharing cross organizational data - "We need to achieve operability BEFORE we can worry about interoperability."

His comment speaks volumes about the real life challenges of implementing EHR's with features and functionality that support the daily tasks of organizational staff, AND are capable of sharing data that can be read, used, imported, interpreted, and utilized by other organizations.

Now, as Memo Keswick (Co-Chair for the National Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology Behavioral Health Workgroup) has said, agencies are actually sharing data already between providers and counties, and in many other capacities. So, it's not only possible, but already happening - just in fragmented ways.

What seems to missing is a Nationwide, or even Statewide set of criteria that is widely available to guide organizations towards putting into place standards, systems and technologies that have the ability to integrate down the road.

To me this seems to be a time of tremendous opportunity to define National, State, or Regional standards that allow independent organizations the flexibility to pursue desperately needed technologies and systems in the short term, without fear that the choices they make today will be obsolete in the long run (or in two years).

tsd.