Why can we run our entire financial lives with a few smartphone apps, a couple of plastic cards, and an ATM network, while so many of our interactions with the health care system still rely on phone calls, copiers, fax machines, and even the occasional multi-part form? Why is the routine exchange of health care information still so difficult compared with the routine exchange of financial information?
What Banking Can Teach Health Care About Handling Customer Data
Why can we run our entire financial lives with a few smartphone apps, a couple of plastic cards, and an ATM network, while so many of our interactions with the health care system still rely on phone calls, copiers, fax machines, and even the occasional multi-part form? Why is the routine exchange of health care information still so difficult compared with the routine exchange of financial information? One reason is that banking has solved some foundational interoperability issues that health care still struggles with. The obstacles are numerous, but they include a lack of agreement on standard methods of information sharing, a habit of regarding patient information as a competitive advantage to be jealously guarded, and a fragmented system of reimbursement that doesn’t encourage interoperability. By gleaning three lessons from banking, the health care can overcome these obstacles.