Overcoming Interoperability Challenges Through HIE

Armato sees a main challenge of the proliferation of information exchanges like hers to be interoperability, which lies squarely in vendors’ hands, as many proffer common excuses of lack of federal exchange protocols. Engagement has sometimes been difficult with vendors, she admits. While many have claimed portability of data, they don’t always deliver on discreet data points, she notes. “The challenge is to getting the vendors to realize that you’re not going to sell in this marketplace with that attitude. We’re not waiting till 2014,” she says. “They talk a good game, but their systems were made to hold data hostage; that’s how they kept clients.”