Informatics Speciality Area and Interoperability

Interoperability and Health Information Exchange
Name
Institution
Interoperability and Health Information Exchange
Introduction
The field of health care has been in transition. Various stakeholders involved have come up with measures to ensure service delivery is efficient and effective for patients. Technology has played a more significant role in this field because the demand for better health care has increased. To enhance quality, information is a vital factor. Information sharing between the health facility and the patients is essential. Information aids in the improvement of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, illness, injury and other physical and mental impairments in human beings. Over the years, with increased technological advancements, applications and systems have been developed to address information exchange in health care. This paper is intended to clearly describe interoperability within groups such as patients, the medical facility, medical devices vendors, finance ancillary and as well discuss the potential benefits the groups can receive from exchanging information.
Interoperability refers to the ability of different information systems, devices or applications to connect in a coordinated manner, within and across organizational boundaries to access, exchange and cooperatively use data amongst stakeholders, with the goal of optimizing the health prevalence of individuals and populations. Through relevant data exchange standards and architectures, allows relevant data to be shared effectively and securely across the complete spectrum of care, with relevant shareholders. Ideally, interoperability facilitates integration across various systems regardless of the origin of data and ensures the data is readable and readily available to share without other interventions by the end user (Desai, 2015).
Various types of interoperability exist to aid in the smooth flow of information. First is structural interoperability. This develops the building blocks of information exchange between disparate systems by establishing the requirements of inter-connectivity required for one system or application to share and receive data from one another. Structural interoperability defines the structure or format of data exchange where there is a steady movement of health care data from one system to another such that the operational purpose and meaning, of the data, is unaltered and preserved. Semantic Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems to exchange information and to interpret the use of the report. Organizational interoperability comprehends the technical components as well as clear policy, social and organizational components (Kasthurirathne et.al, 2015). It facilitates the secure, seamless and timely communication and use of data within and between organizations and individuals.
Health care information is the mobilization of health care information electronically across organizations within a region, community or hospital system. It provides the capability to move clinical information among different health care information systems electronically. It supports health information management across computerized systems and the secure exchange of information between consumers, providers...