By Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick
LinkedIn: Nick van Terheyden, MD
X: @drnic1
Host of Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist – #TheIncrementalist
On this episode I talked to Don Rucker, MD (@donrucker), Chief Strategy Officer, 1upHealth (@1up_health) who is working to solve the interoperability problem in healthcare.
Don shared his journey from being a medical student to a physician with a keen interest in data and computers. What he saw was healthcare’s inefficiency is often due to a lack of data, which led him to pursue degrees in medical computer science and an MBA.
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Data Liberation
We talk about the challenges of achieving interoperability in healthcare highlighting that while technical standards like Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) have made significant progress, the real obstacle lies in the business models of healthcare delivery systems. Don shared details on the many entities that continue to resist true interoperability as it threatens their proprietary systems and profit margins.
We dive into the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and the challenges it poses to achieving true interoperability. Listen in to hear Don’s concerns about TEFCA’s limitations and how it might hinder progress. We may be at an inflection point in healthcare where true interoperability that enables seamless data exchange to improve patient outcomes, is within reach, but overcoming entrenched business interests and outdated models remains a significant challenge on the path to achieving this goal.
This article was originally published on the Dr. Nick – The Incrementalist blog and is republished here with permission.
About the Show
About the Show
For years Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick, has served as a voice on the impact of new technologies on healthcare, earning a reputation as a leading authority on where the future of medicine is going. Combining powers of observation and real world experience, Dr. Nick has seen many predictions come true and makes the case that innovations in healthcare can be accomplished incrementally, not just by moonshot events. Tune in to hear Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist and his guests discuss what the future of healthcare looks like, how we will get there, and what it will take to improve healthcare for all.
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