A framework for understanding process interoperability and health information technology

Craig E. Kuziemsky*, Liam Peyton

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: While health information technology (HIT) offers great potential for supporting healthcare delivery, interoperability issues can be a barrier to effective use of HIT. While technical and semantic interoperability issues have been well studied there is a shortage of research that addresses process interoperability. Methods: This paper uses a two year case study of a Palliative Care Information System (PAL-IS) to study process interoperability and health information technology (HIT). We describe the design of PAL-IS and develop and describe three types of process interoperability issues that arose from its implementation. Results: The implementation of PAL-IS caused care delivery, clinical practice and administrative process interoperability issues. Further, many of these issues emerged over time and a solution to address one type of process interoperability issue often led to a different type of issue. We used our evaluation of PAL-IS to develop a general framework for understanding process interoperability and HIT. Conclusion: Designing HIT to support care delivery is a complex sociotechnical endeavor that can result in different types of process interoperability issues. Evaluating process interoperability takes time and longitudinal studies are necessary to understand the overall ecosystem where technology, processes, and people interact. The framework developed in this paper provides a starting point for the evaluation of process interoperability and HIT.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)196-203
Number of pages8
JournalHealth Policy and Technology
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Evaluation
  • Health information technology
  • Interoperability
  • Process

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A framework for understanding process interoperability and health information technology'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this