Healthcare players are actively blocking data sharing

CHICAGO -- Five years ago, only 20% of physicians used electronic medical records (EMRs). Today, 80% use them. Since the enactment of the HITECH Act, which required that EMRs be adopted across all healthcare providers, the federal government has invested more than $28 billion toward their use.

...Experts at the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference here this week said the industry knows the problem isn't a technological one; it's about the money. By keeping their software proprietary and unable to exchange data, or by actively blocking the use of protocols that would otherwise allow it, vendors can corner their respective markets...

...On a related note, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today  announced $1 million in new grant programs to help improve sharing of health information in rural and poor areas as well as for entities not covered by its EMS Meaningful Use rules, such as extended care facilities...FHIR (pronounced "fire") is growing in popularity because of its simplicity and ease of use. It's based on RESTful APIs, using the Internet's HTTP protocol and other familiar web specifications such as XML and JSON. It also natively supports leading privacy and security specifications...