Interoperability is a word we’ve heard in countless keynotes, seen in policy memos, funded through billions of taxpayer dollars, and promised by every vendor pitch deck. And yet, here we are — decades later — still asking: Why is this so hard? Let’s take a step back and unpack what we really mean when we say “interoperability,” where it started, how it entered healthcare, and where it stands today. After decades of committees, billions in funding, and countless PowerPoint slides, when you show up in an ER from out of town, no one has your medical information.
What Is Interoperability, Anyway?
In healthcare, Interoperability refers to the degree to which a software system, devices, applications or other entity can connect and communicate with other entities in a coordinated manner without effort from the end user. This is often related to things like data access, data transmission and cross-organizational collaboration. There are three layers:
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Technical: Can systems even exchange data in the first place? Are they speaking the same protocol, or are they still faxing and mailing CDs in 2025?
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Semantic: If they do exchange data, do they actually understand it the same way? Does “MI” mean myocardial infarction, mitral insufficiency, or Michigan? Is “discharge” a clinical status or something else entirely?
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Pragmatic: Even if the data moves and is understood, can a person actually use it to make better clinical decisions — or is it just more screens, more clicks, more noise, and no actionable insight?
We’re still shaky on all three. Technical exchanges often break. Semantics are plagued by inconsistent coding, ambiguous terms, and context loss. And pragmatic usability? Let’s just say, dumping a 300-page CCD into a provider’s inbox five minutes before a visit doesn’t exactly scream “interoperable.” The “actionable” information is hidden within faxes, 3 hours of deciphering, and/or not there at all.
Until we stop treating data exchange as an end in itself and start focusing on making that data usable, meaningful, and actionable, we’re just moving it around faster.
How Did We Get Here?
It started with good intentions. In the 1990s, as hospitals digitized records, they discovered something horrifying: those shiny new EHRs couldn’t talk to each other — even within the same building. Lab, pharmacy, and billing systems all spoke their own dialects, leaving end users frustrated and outcomes unimproved.
In 2004, President George W. Bush launched the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) with the ambitious goal of giving every American an electronic health record within 10 years. ONC’s mission was to create a nationwide, interoperable infrastructure and standardize data exchange.
Then came the HITECH Act in 2009, part of the federal stimulus package, which poured more than $36 billion into healthcare digitization. Through Meaningful Use incentives, hospitals and providers rushed to implement certified EHRs. Adoption rates skyrocketed — from about 10% of hospitals in 2008 to over 96% today.
Everyone got their records into computers. But getting them out — sharing them seamlessly, accurately, and usefully — remains a problem. What we ended up with was a sprawling patchwork of digital silos: billions of data points locked in incompatible formats, scattered across thousands of organizations, with no universal language. We didn’t solve the problem. We just digitized the fax machine.
How’s It Going?
On paper? Nearly every hospital and physician practice has an EHR. APIs exist. Information blocking is technically illegal. But in reality, data is still fragmented. Proprietary. And each EHR vendor is coming up with their own version of data exchange, still locked within their own systems. Clinicians still fax and phone each other. Patients still shuttle CDs and PDFs between offices. And every vendor still thinks their silo is the perfect one. If you are running an Epic or Oracle EHR system, you’ve paid tens of millions for it, and you still have:
- Proprietary Data Formats
- Technical and Contractual Barriers
- Lack of Communication Standards
- High Costs and Implementation Challenges
We’ve confused moving data with making data meaningful and useful to the end user (patient, physician, health system).
Why Does It Matter?
Because patients and providers are paying the price. Missed diagnoses, repeat visits, tests, procedures. Wasted time, and scores of deadly patient safety errors take place. Because, when information about the patient is not readily available, consumable, and traveling WITH THE PATIENT, everyone suffers. Patients die needlessly, providers experience burnout from the endless wrangling of medical information. There can be no “information at the point of care”, because systems do not talk to each other. Clinicians are making life-altering medical decisions based on incomplete data. Even worse, we are treating interoperability like it’s some exotic luxury rather than a basic human prerequisite for healthcare in 2025.
So What Now?
We can’t keep treating interoperability as a feature to be upsold or a checkbox to be checked. If you’re a vendor, stop hiding behind your proprietary ecosystem. If you’re a policymaker, stop writing (and funding) endless regulations that do not work for people. And if you’re a provider or patient, start asking louder: Why can’t my systems talk? Why does it still fall on me? Because if interoperability isn’t for the patient, then who is it for? And if not now — when?
MedKaz® is the Answer!
Fortunately, a solution already exists — secure, simple, and patient-driven. It doesn’t require another federal mandate or vendor summit. It works today. It’s MedKaz®: a portable, patient-owned application that securely stores a patient’s lifetime health record, and the application to manage it, on a MedKaz mini drive the patient owns and carries on his or her keyring with their house and car keys, and gives to his or her doctors anytime, anywhere they need it. There is no other system like it!
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Instantly available.
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No integration nightmares.
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No waiting on IT departments.
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No more patient safety issues from incomplete records.
In short, MedKaz’s unique, groundbreaking approach provides total interoperability today at the point of care and saves time, money, and lives in the process! It gives patients the information they need to better manage their care and save deductibles and copays, and providers the information they need to improve outcomes, coordinate care, streamline their workflow, reduce burnout and increase their income. Providers continue to enter their records in their EHR systems, not the MedKaz, and it is updated automatically.
We’re running a pilot program for interested providers this summer — including a free Microsoft Surface tablet for ease of use.
✅ Have at least 100 patients?
✅ Ready to save 3–7 minutes per exam, reduce stress, and improve satisfaction for you, your patients and their employers?
✅ Want to actually get paid to use it?
Then it’s time to give MedKaz a try. When it comes to real-world interoperability…MedKaz is the Answer. Get in touch today and begin seeing the difference for yourself!
