To celebrate National Health IT Week, ONC organized two panels on interoperability and usability in Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, FedScoop reports.
Here are three key thoughts healthcare experts shared during the panels.
1. Ed Cantwell, president and CEO of the nonprofit research lab Center for Medical Interoperability, said data sharing efforts are often hampered by lack of collaborative leadership.
"It's not a technology problem," he said. "It's a lack of coordinated leadership. I think the call to action is let's put [vendors, hospital CEOs and physicians] in a room. Every other industry has done it, they've come together and put their differences aside."
2. John Kansky, president and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, said interoperability is often hindered by the disparate needs of physicians, payers and other healthcare stakeholders.
"I don't think moving healthcare data around the country is any less complicated than moving people and stuff around the country," he said. "Interoperability isn't one thing. Every organization has complex interoperability needs."
3. Andrey Ostrovsky, MD, CMO of CMS and the Children's Health Insurance Program, agreed health IT developers struggle to deliver interoperable products that address diverse users.
"When we talk about the federal government’s role in somehow influencing how software gets developed or evolves, we not only have the design constraints of what does the patient need but also what does the physician need, what does the practicing admin need, what does the potential payer need in terms of reporting, and then we’ve got what does the federal government need?" he said.