What is openEHR and What are Open Ecosystems in Healthcare? (Hanna Pohjonen)
Sharing of data has improved with the introduction of the messaging standard called FHIR. But throughout the years, debates about open standards and open ecosystems have started to become louder and louder.
When one starts to wonder about why data-sharing is still more or less cumbersome in healthcare, you quickly get to the challenges with interoperability siloed data and of course, data standards. In this episode, you’re going to hear a little bit more about that and the openEHR standard specification.
Hanna Pohjonen is eHealth management consultant and founder at Rosaldo Oy. Hanna has worked across the world, as a consultant in various regional and national eHealth projects in 31 different countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. She consults on healthcare information systems and IT architectures, vendor-neutral archiving, data sharing, and more. In her past, she also represented Finland in eHealth matters in the European Commission.
Tune in to the full discussion below or listen in iTunes or Spotify.
Questions addressed:
You recently contributed to the book Roadmap to Successful Digital Health Ecosystems - A Global Perspective. For start: what is considered a digital health ecosystem?
You contributed to this book with a chapter about the Nordic countries. What are in your view the key factors making these countries the forerunners in implementing digital health ecosystems?
You’re s strong proponent of open standards in healthcare, particularly openEHR. For those who might not be familiar with it: what are the key characteristics and benefits of openEHR?
Because data is separate from applications in the open platform ecosystems, data can be used across different applications. Can you name a few use cases where this is used in practice?
You are a consultant for openEHR. What are the most common projects you’re consulting on? Who are the key stakeholders you work with? Where do customers struggle most?
What are the key fears or critics you usually hear from those against open data approaches in healthcare? Is there even still a lot of resentment towards open standards on the ground, given that requirements and public demands are voicing data fluidity in healthcare?
Archetype and template content is modeled by health and social care professionals. How does one become a modeler? What are the required skills?
OpenEHR is used across the world. Where is it used most, where the least according to your knowledge? Are there any upcoming markets for openEHR?
How do use and development of openEHR differ between regions/countries?
You worked across the world, as a consultant in various regional and national eHealth projects in 31 different countries across Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia. What are some of the high-level necessary components for a project to succeed?
Do you have any specific memories you could share related to how these projects differed? What was the toughest one, and which one was the easiest?
How do you see the future of open standards in healthcare? Where could we be in ten years' time based on the current trends?