Have you ever come across the story of Dr. Reed of MS Family Medicine Health care? The story where her consistent efforts to stay connected with her patients had helped them achieve not just their personal health goals but also improve their overall health status. The impact she created on her patient population was so huge that patients with chronic conditions have been able to reduce or stop the regular medications.

Healthcare has lately been dotted with data-driven innovation. Companies with huge data warehouses like Google, Facebook, Amazon have made use of next generation technologies to deliver connectivity, ease of access, and user experience. Then, why not healthcare? The future of Big Data is promising- the analytics market in healthcare is projected to grow from $7 billion in 2016 to $24 billion in the next five years and tapping Big Data could offer several more possibilities.

For years we have known and experienced the negative impacts of delayed and inaccurate information transfer. The reasons could be many- lack of continuity, fragmented systems, different data standards- owing to which the news of a patient’s medical encounter may take some time to reach the provider, if it ever does. Stepping up, the international standards development organization, Health Level 7 (HL7) came up with ADT – Admit, Discharge and Transfer feeds to establish patient data notification services.

Today we would like to have all our health information at our fingertips. Just like the access to emails, calendar, maps, etc., it would be awesome if we also had a similar arrangement to view our cholesterol levels, insulin, and other vitals on the fly.

We all know that care coordination is fundamental to improving the quality and accessibility of care. We also realize that on paper, care coordination looks fairly easy- just the integrated efforts of primary care physicians, specialists, nurses, health coaches and all the caregivers. As the amount of healthcare data increases and as patients find themselves surrounded by bustling health-related activities, the need for safe, secure data exchange increases. To look at the bigger picture, providers need to have access to all the pieces. This is where interoperability comes in.

The Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource, or FHIR (pronounced ‘fire’), is a new term in healthcare that’s witnessing growing interest and spreading almost like fire. FHIR is the latest standard to be developed under HL7 and is expected to contribute significantly to improving patient care, countering the barriers to interoperability, boosting information sharing, and unboxing innovation in healthcare. Stakeholders from all across the healthcare system are excited and enthusiastic about FHIR, its simplicity and a refreshing approach. Here’s all you need to know about it:

One size does not fit all- a concept, everyone in the world has to wrap their heads around at some point. Even in healthcare, there are several types of EHRs, wearable technology, cloud storage, and several data repositories and still, with significant advances in technology; a seamless data-sharing environment is yet to be seen.

There has been great progress lately on reforming healthcare and making the US healthcare system a paragon of better quality care – where the care is provided and paid for in a smarter way. A decade ago, there were few significant efforts to improve care and reduce costs. Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have largely led the initiative of aligning incentives, improving the health system and implement the best care management strategies and leading healthcare into a dawn of value-based care. CMS has launched more than 30 new payment models in the past six years, and Medicare exceeded the goal to tie more than 30% of fee-for-service payments to alternative payment models by the end of 2016 and is now on the path to reach 50% by the end of 2018.

Ask an average person walking down the streets what do they think of healthcare. The answers will range from exceedingly costly to mediocre quality of care. Maybe some would hope for a ground-breaking innovation or a vaccine for an incurable disease. But everyone, whether patients or physicians, nurses or executives, would agree on encouraging the push towards value-based care and making healthcare more than just an in-and-out operation in a brick-and-mortar structure.

Around two decades ago, health care in the United States cost an average of $2800 per person. Ten years later, that figure had shot up to $4700 per person. Over the years, the cost of health care has risen as high as $10,345. At a time when the perceived value of care had dropped down, value-based reimbursement came up on the landscape. The days of siloed health systems, fragmented care management and skyrocketing costs are numbered; only because value-based care is becoming a mainstay today. There are several innovations on the block, amazing new ways of combining technology with care and a dream of a consolidated, unified health care- a bright, optimistic outlook ahead.