From Fax to API: Why EHR Buyers Are Prioritizing Interoperability First

Outdated processes have held back modern healthcare workflows. Despite widespread EHR adoption, many providers still rely on fax machines and paper for referrals, authorizations, lab results, and clinical reports. These legacy channels create frustrating bottlenecks: today, fewer than one in three hospitals can electronically find, send, receive, and integrate patient data from another provider. 

In practice, care transitions like discharges or referrals often default to paper or fax, “potentially creating fragmentation in care coordination”. It’s this gap between antiquated workflows and modern health IT that has made interoperability–seamless, standards-based data exchange – exchange-the top priority for hospitals and EHR purchasers.

Prioritizing Interoperability in Procurement

Healthcare leaders increasingly insist that new EHR systems come ready to connect. Experts note that making interoperability “a priority, core and affordable requirement” in acquisition planning directly boosts return on investment. 

In other words, buyers know that linked data drives value: their goals include reducing medical errors, ensuring broad access to patient records, automating data entry to cut clerical work, and improving clinician productivity. A National Academy report concludes that “interoperability must be a prime purchasing priority” to spend health IT dollars on a safer, more productive system.

• Reduce errors & improve safety: Better data sharing helps catch anomalies and avoids information gaps.
• Full access to patient data: Clinicians get the complete history they need, not just snapshots.
• Automate clerical work: Structured interfaces eliminate much of the manual scanning and data entry that burden staff.
• Boost productivity and satisfaction: Streamlined workflows mean clinicians spend less time on busywork and more on patients.
  

Together, these priorities explain why interoperability is now a core requirement in nearly every EHR request-for-proposal. Organizations are no longer content with systems that only “transmit records electronically from point A to point B.” 

Instead, they demand clinically meaningful interoperability that enables whole-person care, supports patient engagement, and empowers providers with up-to-date information when and where it’s needed.

Regulations and Market Momentum

Beyond internal goals, recent policy changes have upped the pressure. In recent years, federal rules have prohibited “information blocking” and required certified health IT to provide open APIs for patient data. For example, a 2020 regulation mandated that EHR systems include standardized APIs so patients could securely access and share their health data via apps. 

These rules also impose penalties if vendors or providers unreasonably restrict data flows. In short, the industry is moving fast toward a future of digital data liquidity.

Providers are responding: interoperability metrics are soaring. In 2023, about 70% of U.S. hospitals reported participating in all key domains of electronic health information exchange, up from just 46% in 2018. This jump reflects hospitals’ growing commitment to modernizing legacy workflows. 

Armed with financial and regulatory incentives, hospitals and clinics are upgrading interfaces, adding FHIR-based APIs, and even leveraging cloud services to bridge old silos. The result is a data-sharing ecosystem where progress builds on itself – more connected partners attract more connections.

Unlocking Clinical and Operational Value

Focusing on interoperability yields tangible benefits. Clinically, connected EHRs mean more complete information at the point of care. For instance, when a primary care doctor refers a patient to a specialist, an interoperable system can automatically deliver the patient’s problem list, meds, and recent imaging. 

Instead of bulky fax packets, the specialist immediately sees the relevant records in her workflow. Care coordination improves because each provider trusts the data; fragmentation gives way to continuity.

Economically, reducing manual work cuts costs and burnout. When information flows automatically, staff spend less time chasing down old charts or re-keying data. 

• A recent analysis warns that poor interoperability is a hidden driver of clinician burnout. 
• In one hospital, doctors and nurses may juggle 20 different communication channels each day.
• By “connecting disparate systems,” leaders can ease this burden. 
• Automating referrals and results delivery “reduces administrative burden,” improving staff well-being and freeing clinicians to focus on patients.

Patients benefit too. Interoperability enables robust patient portals and apps: individuals can pull their entire record from an EHR into smartphone apps or easily send their data to new providers. 

• In fact, by 2022, roughly two-thirds of hospitals were using FHIR-based APIs to enable patient access to their records via mobile apps. 
• This direct access engages patients as partners in care, lets them share information with caregivers outside the system, and supports modern telehealth workflows. 

Moreover, when patients change providers or see multiple specialists, interoperable records ensure that lab results, immunizations, and care plans follow them, reducing duplicate tests and delays.

Real-World Scenarios

Consider everyday scenarios that demonstrate why interoperability is urgent:

1. Referrals and care transitions

With an interoperable EHR, a referral to a cardiologist automatically includes an electronic care summary. The cardiologist spends less time on phone calls or faxed reports and more time with the patient. 

By contrast, a fax-reliant process often misses pages of history or arrives late. Researchers note that relying on fax for care transitions still “creates fragmentation in care coordination”.

2. Lab and imaging exchange

Critical results can flow directly from one hospital’s lab system into another provider’s chart. Clinicians always see the latest tests without waiting for paper reports. This avoids redundant testing and helps ensure timely diagnosis.

3. Patient access and remote monitoring

Patients can authorize third-party apps to retrieve their immunization records or blood pressures, enabling new services like home-monitoring or teleconsultations. Instead of downloading PDFs, patients use standards-based APIs to securely move data, making innovation easier.

4. Reducing administrative toil

Front-desk and clinical staff are spared routine tasks. Data from one system populates another. For example, a discharge summary composed in an inpatient EHR can automatically update the outpatient EHR – no printing, faxing, or retyping needed.

Each of these scenarios highlights a basic shift: moving from point-to-point faxes and custom interfaces toward modern, standards-driven connectivity. The payoff is smoother workflows, better care continuity, and happier patients and providers.

Related: Data-Driven Patient Matching: Overcoming Demographic Data Issues for EHR Interoperability

Technical Foundations: APIs, Standards, and the Cloud

How is this achieved under the hood? Today’s interoperable EHRs rely on web-based APIs and industry standards. A leading example is HL7 FHIR, a standardized data model and API framework that many EHR vendors and app developers use. 

FHIR lets systems request and exchange specific data using common formats. In practice, FHIR and similar standards mean an app built once can plug into any certified EHR that supports that API.

Modern deployments also leverage cloud architecture. Cloud-based health IT platforms can more easily scale to handle data sharing across organizations. 

They provide secure hosting and backup, and new services like real-time data integration. A systematic review found that cloud computing in healthcare brings benefits, including improved scalability, performance, and data sharing, even “reducing errors and improving the quality” of EHR systems.

• For example, a hospital might use cloud services to automatically route an incoming fax image through OCR and drop the text directly into the patient’s electronic chart. 
• Cloud deployments also facilitate networked health information exchanges and integrated care networks, since the data isn’t locked behind on-premise servers.

In short, APIs and cloud platforms provide the plumbing for interoperability. They allow innovation: hospitals can add specialized apps for remote monitoring, analytics, or e-prescribing, knowing those tools can talk to the EHR. 

And because many of these standards and cloud services are open and vendor-neutral, hospitals are not locked into one proprietary workflow, giving EHR buyers more flexibility and control.

The human impact of these systems is real. Clinicians working with fragmented tools often feel drained; one survey noted that up to 54% of physicians and nurses exhibit burnout symptoms. 

By contrast, when information flows smoothly, providers spend less time hunting down data and more time at the bedside. Eliminating redundant tasks and alerts allows care teams to focus on patients, improving both staff morale and patient safety.

Vozo EHR for your Healthcare Practices

From managing and organizing patient health records digitally to reducing medical errors, it significantly empowers providers to improve healthcare quality.

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