Interoperable IT Infrastructure Vital to Link Healthcare, Social Care

September 30, 2019 - The United States needs to develop interoperable IT infrastructure that will facilitate the integration of healthcare and social care, advised a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

To accomplish this goal, the report recommended that the federal government establish a 21st century social care IT infrastructure and identify policies and resources needed for social care organizations and consumers to interact with each other and the healthcare system.

Other report recommendations on IT infrastructure include: 

• The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) should work for the adoption of modern, secure, interoperable IT infrastructure to allow partners to share administrative and other data needed to enable consumers to obtain healthcare and social care services.
• ONC should support states and regions in their efforts to identify the most appropriate interoperable IT platforms for their communities based on open and modern architecture that enables the sharing of data needed for care coordination.  
• The Federal Health Information Technology Coordinating Committee should encourage data sharing at the community level across healthcare, housing, and education domains in order to support social care and healthcare integration.
• HHS should work with the private sector to distribute educational guidance and tools on data security and privacy issues that arise when organizations collect and distribute personally identifiable information.
• Public and private entities involved in developing analytical and technology resources should focus on the equity impact of those technologies. The goal should be to avoid perpetuation or aggravation of bias and the continued marginalization of certain populations and to understand the impact of these technologies on the existing social care system.