Health System Efficiency and eHealth Interoperability – How Much Interoperability Do We Need?

The generic concept of interoperability is briefly reviewed, before describing the approach taken in defining eHealth interoperability, based on a reflection of the diverse needs for exchanging patient, other healthcare and health system data with the aim to improve the overall quality and efficiency of healthcare provision. Next, the method applied for collecting global good practice evidence from national or district eHealth platforms is outlined. The information collected led us to revisit the concept of eHealth interoperability levels; a modified concept is presented identifying four distinct domains, and the identification of three levels for the data and access domain. The results are discussed under the perspective of ‘Who needs why how much inter-operability?’ - including the impact of healthcare provider incentives, size of patient population, and the benefits from interoperability on the concrete instantiation of an interoperability platform. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the role of eHealth interoperability for better healthcare.