Understand the four levels of interoperability in healthcare

Why semantic interoperability matters in healthcare

Semantic interoperability is a critical component of modern healthcare data exchange. It ensures that health information shared between systems is not only received but also understood and used effectively. Without it, even the most advanced electronic health records (EHRs) can fall short. 

A real-world example: Lessons from Katrina and Harvey 

When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, most hospitals in the region still relied on paper records. As floodwaters swept through, countless medical histories—vaccination records, medication details, diagnostic notes—were lost. For displaced families, managing chronic conditions or enrolling children in new schools without access to those records was incredibly difficult.

Fast forward to Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and the picture had improved: about 75% of providers in the Houston area were using electronic health records (EHRs). Patients who stayed local benefited from continued access to their data, but for those who relocated, sharing that information across systems was still clunky, often requiring printed copies or discs. It was progress, but not yet seamless.

That may feel like a long time ago, but the question remains: Have we made real progress since then? Chances are, you or someone you know has experienced a delay in care, repeat testing, or even a medical error because critical patient data wasn’t available when and where it was needed.

How does interoperability impact healthcare?

If those examples aren't convincing enough, here are three key reasons why healthcare interoperability matters:

• Interoperability speeds patient care
  In emergencies, natural disasters, or routine care transitions, providers need fast access to a patient's medical history, allergies, and treatments. Semantic interoperability ensures that this data is structured, standardized, and usable, leading to faster, safer care.
• Interoperability helps manage chronic conditions
  Conditions like diabetes require coordinated care across multiple providers. Interoperability allows care teams, including patients and payers, to share data, track progress, and make informed decisions. For data to be actionable, it must be reliable and optimized for clinical outcomes. 
• Interoperability reduces physician burden
  Administrative tasks like prior authorizations are a major burden. Interoperability, especially through initiatives like the HL7 DaVinci Project, streamlines data exchange between payers and providers, reducing paperwork and freeing up time for patient care. 

Are we there yet? The state of healthcare interoperability in 2025

Interoperability has come a long way, but we’re not there yet.

Foundational interoperability, or getting data from point A to point B, is mostly in place, especially for large organizations that benefited from Meaningful Use incentives. However, many small or rural providers still rely on paper charts.

The next hurdle is structural interoperability, ensuring data is formatted and organized so that different systems can use it. We’ve made progress here, too. Standards like FHIR and CDA are gaining traction, and initiatives like TEFCA are helping unify data exchange across networks.

Still, challenges remain: payer-to-payer communication using FHIR is minimal. While the technical standards exist, the content often falls short, especially for complex clinical use cases like maternal and fetal health. Many providers still use legacy systems that don’t support modern standards. And sectors like behavioral health, public health, long-term care, and rural care often lack the funding or infrastructure to keep up.

And, don’t forget the pharmacists. Pharmacists are key players in patient care, but they’re often left out of the health data loop. Without access to full medical histories or incentives to share clinical insights, their ability to provide safe, informed care is limited. Better integration could unlock their full potential in care coordination, especially for patients managing complex conditions.

The bottom line for healthcare interoperability

In short, we’ve laid the pipes and started organizing the flow, but we still need to clean up what’s coming through them and find ways of aggregating and normalizing data from disparate sources to accomplish the real goal of interoperability: improving patient outcomes.

The team at Health Language is passionate about interoperability in healthcare. We focus specifically around that semantic layer. Our data quality solutions are designed to support providers, payers, and HIT vendors ensure that the data they are leveraging is “translated” into the same language, transforming data into information that can be used to accelerate both organizational and patient outcomes. We enable you to get the most out of your enterprise data with specialized training and tools in an end-to-end data management portfolio of products.

If your team needs support with clinical data governance and normalization, we’d love to help support you! Please reach out – we’d love to connect.