The Importance of Data Integration in Healthcare

80% of Healthcare Data Is Trapped in Silos. Here’s How to Unlock It. Did you know that 80% of healthcare data—clinical notes, imaging reports, patient histories—is unstructured, buried in formats like PDFs or free-text entries? This fragmentation delays diagnoses, increases costs, and risks patient safety. [Source: NCBI] But there’s hope. Below are 7 actionable strategies to break down data silos and build a truly connected healthcare ecosystem:    1. FHIR-First Approach for EHR Integration  Why it matters: FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standardizes data exchange across systems.  Do this: Use FHIR APIs to connect hospitals, labs, and telehealth platforms.  Impact: Cleveland Clinic reduced duplicate testing by 30% post-FHIR adoption. 2. AI-Powered Data Unification  Why it matters: AI and NLP can map unstructured data (e.g., clinician notes) to structured formats.  Do this: Deploy tools like Google’s Care Studio to reconcile mismatched records.  Impact: AI-driven systems at Mayo Clinic cut patient matching errors by 40%. 3. Zero-Trust Security Architecture  Why it matters: 95% of healthcare breaches start with human error.  Do this: Combine RBAC, MFA, and end-to-end encryption.  Impact: Kaiser Permanente reduced breaches by 60% with zero-trust frameworks. 4. Blockchain-Backed HIEs  Why it matters: Centralized HIEs are vulnerable to tampering.  Do this: Build decentralized Health Information Exchanges with blockchain audit trails.  Impact: Estonia’s blockchain HIE ensures 100% data integrity across 1,000+ clinics. 5. IoMT & Wearable Integration  Why it matters: Remote devices generate 50% of healthcare data by 2025 (Deloitte).  Do this: Use edge computing to process wearable data locally before syncing to EHRs.  Impact: Johns Hopkins reduced ER visits by 25% via real-time remote monitoring. 6. Automated Compliance Engines  Why it matters: Manual compliance checks delay interoperability by weeks.  Do this: Deploy tools like Redox to auto-validate HIPAA/GDPR compliance.  Impact: Intermountain Healthcare accelerated integrations by 70%. 7. Patient-Led Data Ownership  Why it matters: 78% of patients want direct access to their records (ONC).  Do this: Build apps with granular consent controls (e.g., Apple HealthKit).  Impact: NHS England saw a 35% rise in patient engagement with shared records.    The Bottom Line:  Unstructured data isn’t just a tech problem—it’s a patient safety crisis. By adopting these strategies, we can turn fragmented data into actionable insights, reduce costs, and save lives.    Let’s stop talking about interoperability and start building it.   Repost if you believe connected healthcare is non-negotiable.  Comment with the #1 barrier your organization faces in achieving interoperability.    #HealthcareIT #DigitalHealth #Interoperability #FHIR #AIinHealthcare #PatientSafety #HealthTech

The graveyard of healthcare innovation is filled with technically brilliant solutions that couldn't integrate with the systems clinicians use every day. I've watched promising MedTech companies pour millions into product development only to hit an adoption wall when they discover their solution can't access the data it needs or share insights with other systems. By the time they realize interoperability isn't just a technical feature but a fundamental business requirement, it's often too late. The hard truth: in today's interconnected healthcare ecosystem, your technology is only as valuable as its ability to exchange data seamlessly across the continuum of care. As value-based arrangements expand, now covering over 50% of Medicare members, isolated solutions simply cannot deliver the coordinated care and measurable outcomes these models demand. In today’s newsletter we explore Pillar 4 of the VBMT framework, and discuss how data architecture and interoperability can transform integration from technical hurdle to a strategic advantage.     ___________________________________________ Sam Basta, MD, MMM is a pioneer of Value-Based Medical Technology and LinkedIn Top Voice. Over the past two decades, he advised many healthcare and medical technology startups on translating clinical and technological innovation into business success. From value-based strategy and product development to go-to-market planning and execution, Sam specializes in creating and communicating compelling value propositions to customers, partners and investors. His weekly NewHealthcare Platforms newsletter is read by thousands of executives and professionals in the US and globally. #healthcareonlinkedin #artificialintelligence #ai #valuebasedcare #healthcare Vivek Natarajan Tom Lawry Subroto Mukherjee Rana el Kaliouby, Ph.D. Rashmi R. Rao Paulius Mui, MD Avi Rosenzweig Deepak Mittal, MBA, MS, FRM Elena Cavallo, ALM, ACC Chris Grasso  

One of the challenges that many healthcare organizations face is how to make the huge volume of data they generate work for them. Uses depending on the organization include research, clinical operations, clinical trials, learning health systems, business research, innovation, development, strategic planning and decision making, policy planning etc. Some have figured it out but many still struggle with being ‘data rich but insights/wisdom poor’ due to poor data strategy to aggregate data across sources, data structures and types, multiple practices or institutions, fragmented technology systems, multiple EHRs, connecting non-clinical data etc. This publication on NIH’s All of Us Data and Research Center which summarizes the principles and lessons learned from creating an ecosystem for biomedical research. The guiding principles, the multilevel access for a balance of transparency and privacy, and use of published standards including HL7 FHIR, OHDSI OMOP CDM Standards for health data and the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health standards for Genomic data, are part of industry best practices. https://lnkd.in/eKdEVhcq Links to learn more about each standards are included (in addition you may like this amazing introductory video to HL7 FHIR by Russell Leftwich MD FAMIA at this link https://lnkd.in/epQrRYdV). Kudos to the NIH All of Us teams, participants, and contributors for the ongoing work and taking the time to share their experience with the community. #datamanagement #biomedicalresearch #interoperability #healthcareinformatics #dataanalytics #realworldevidence #datascience #innovation #researchanddevelopment #learninghealthsystems #aiandml

Cleaning Up Healthcare’s Data Diet: From Junk to Quality Insights  By Vanessa Candelora, Senior Consultant & Gravity Project Program Manager Healthcare’s data quality crisis is a growing concern—bad data leads to bad outcomes. Vanessa highlights why governance, consistency, and collaboration are key to fixing interoperability challenges. ✅ Key takeaways: 🔹 Bad data = bad outcomes – Poor data quality undermines patient care & decision-making. 🔹 Regulations alone aren’t enough – TEFCA & CMS rules enable data exchange, but governance ensures quality. 🔹 Six pillars of data quality – Accessibility, accuracy, completeness, consistency, contextual validity & currency. 🔹 The cost of doing nothing is high – Providers, payers, and patients all suffer from errors and inefficiencies. 🔹 Industry is stepping up – Efforts from PIQI, Sequoia Project, and POCP are leading the charge to improve data integrity. Want to be part of the solution? Join workgroups, align governance frameworks, and leverage standards like FHIR to drive meaningful change. Let’s make healthcare data work for us, not against us. https://lnkd.in/eRuinchg #HealthcareData #Interoperability #DataGovernance #FHIR #TEFCA

More interesting strategy from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the budget docs. Historically CMS IT systems and their data have been very siloed across the three M's. This is even the case for data scientists, analysts and leaders working at CMS. This budget lays down the marker for big changes including the following goals: -Unify Data and Drive Seamless Interoperability -Connected Data, Coordinated Care Integrating data platforms and Application Programming Interfaces to enable seamless, secure information exchange across the healthcare ecosystem. -Create a Unified National Provider Directory for Healthcare Access -One Trusted Source for Provider Data Creating a unified, authoritative directory to improve data quality and reduce provider burden nationwide. Source: https://lnkd.in/e4gqYqMr