The journey to achieve interoperability in healthcare has been too long and too expensive. To address this, companies have put effort into creating interoperability tools and platforms designed to make it easier to exchange data. To accelerate interoperability efforts, however, creating more technology may not the answer. Perhaps interoperability can gain more traction by putting a focus on getting more organizations on board the interoperability train.

Healthcare IT Today had the opportunity to discuss this topic with Scott Turicchi, CEO at Consensus Cloud Solutions, the world’s largest digital fax provider. Consensus helps organizations in regulated industries, like healthcare, finance, and government to transform, enhance and securely exchange digital information.

No Network Effect for Interoperability

According to Harvard Business School, the term “network effect” refers to any situation in which the value of a product, service or platform depends on the number of buyers, sellers, or users who leverage it.

The classic historic example of the network effect is the telephone. Having the first telephone in the world is completely useless since there is no one else with a telephone that you can call. When there are 10 telephones connected by a network of phone lines, suddenly the value of the telephone rises. When there are 1,000 telephones connected, the value rises even more. When there are 500,000 telephones, suddenly everyone is clamoring to join the network.

During the interview, Turicchi suggested that it is time for healthcare to look at our interoperability challenge through the lens of network effects.

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