Question

Explain the difference between "Information exchange" and "Interoperability", through technical and conceptual comparison.

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Answer 1

the words “Interoperability” and “Health Information Exchange” are two words that we often use interchangeably, but I think it’s important to realize that they are not the same thing. Search results for the term “interoperability” will get you millions of hits, and generally include concepts of standardization, integration, cooperation, and technical specifications.

Defining Interoperability

For definitions of technical interoperability, my favorite definition comes from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering. IEEE (eye-triple E) is the largest professional organization of geeks out there. And they have been dealing with the issue of interoperability for a very long time.

The IEEE Standard Computer Dictionary defines interoperability as “the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged.

That means that there are two parts to the definition of interoperability:

1. The ability of two or more systems to exchange information
2. The ability of those systems to use the information that has been exchanged

This means that health information exchange is different than health information interoperability. Exchange is a necessary for interoperability, but it is not sufficient by itself to achieve health information interoperability.

Defining the Difference between Health Information Exchange and Interoperability

Because exchange is a prerequisite for interoperability, here at ONC we’ve focused a lot of attention on it. Our early work with the NwHIN pilots emphasized secure, query-based exchange (using something called Web Services) in which one system asked (or queried) another system for information. The DIRECT project defined a secure, email-based exchange system in which one system pushed information to another system.