While everyone talks about moving to rich Semantic communication as if it is the next step, the reality is somewhat different.
Medical-Objects has the ability to enable communication between applications and to some this ability is somewhat of a mystery. The answer is in fact easy however… its calls standards compliance, in fact, strict standards compliance. When we deliver reports from any provider we aim to make the messages that are sent compliant even if we know the errors won’t cause problems. We heavily use the message testing facilities of AHML by doing this have a common standard for message transmission.
Virtually every problem in interoperability we have seen is due to non compliance with standards, or to be blunt, errors in the messages. Its useless saying “I think our messages are compliant“, that almost certainly means they are not, just like software development, it requires proper testing, and retesting whenever a change is made.
The single most useful action that would transform interoperability overnight in the Australian setting is an obligation to send only AHML certified messages, by insisting on AHML certification for all health IT applications.
Then we could start thinking about semantic interoperability, until then its a pipe dream. Its time for NEHTA to act….