For much of the last decade, interoperability has been viewed through the lens of compliance. Healthcare organizations invested in APIs, FHIR implementations, patient access rules, and regulatory mandates to meet evolving federal requirements and improve the exchange of health information.
Those investments have been necessary, but they are no longer sufficient.
Healthcare has entered a new phase of interoperability. The question is no longer whether organizations can exchange data. It is whether they can translate connected data into measurable business value.
That shift framed a recent executive roundtable at the Emids Healthcare Summit 2026, where leaders from across payer organizations, providers, health technology companies, and consulting firms explored how interoperability is evolving from a regulatory obligation into strategic infrastructure. Several themes consistently surfaced throughout the discussion.
Interoperability Creates Value When Data Creates Action
The value of interoperability is no longer measured by the volume of data exchanged. It is measured by what organizations can do with that data. Healthcare organizations are increasingly looking beyond connectivity to focus on outcomes. Interoperable data is enabling real-time prior authorization, improving provider workflows, supporting value-based care, streamlining onboarding, and creating more connected patient journeys. Success is shifting from simply making information available to making it actionable.
One observation resonated across the discussion. Organizations are far more willing to share data when there is a clear value exchange. Compliance may require data sharing, but meaningful business outcomes create the incentive to use data more effectively. As interoperability matures, value creation is becoming a more important measure of success than compliance alone.
The Next Challenge Is Ecosystem Alignment
Healthcare has made significant progress in interoperability standards. FHIR continues to mature. TEFCA is expanding nationwide exchange. Modern integration platforms have reduced many of the technical barriers that once limited progress.
Today’s challenges are increasingly organizational rather than technical.
The discussion repeatedly returned to the issue of alignment. Providers, payers, technology vendors, regulators, and other stakeholders all participate in the interoperability ecosystem, but they do not always benefit in the same way from sharing data. Several executives observed that parts of the industry still view interoperability as giving up a competitive advantage rather than creating shared value.
The conversation also highlighted the complexity of operating within today’s regulatory environment. While federal initiatives continue to accelerate interoperability, organizations operating nationally must also navigate varying state privacy laws, consent requirements, and regulations governing sensitive information such as behavioral health records. Building scalable consent management approaches that balance privacy, compliance, and seamless data exchange remains an important opportunity for the industry.
Taken together, these discussions reinforced that interoperability has become as much about aligning incentives, governance, and trusted partnerships as it is about exchanging information.
Building Infrastructure, Not Projects
One of the richest discussions centered on how organizations fund interoperability. Historically, interoperability initiatives have often been treated as compliance projects with defined budgets, timelines, and deliverables. Increasingly, leaders argued that this mindset limits interoperability’s long-term value.
Interoperability is better viewed as reusable enterprise infrastructure. The same capabilities that support regulatory compliance can also enable real-time prior authorization, provider onboarding, patient and provider identity matching, longitudinal records, value-based care, improved customer experiences, and future AI-enabled workflows.
The challenge, however, is that infrastructure investments rarely produce immediate returns. Executive teams often look for project-level ROI, while the value of interoperability compounds across multiple business initiatives over time. Participants agreed that building this capability requires executive sponsorship and a willingness to invest beyond the immediate business case.
This thinking is also shaping modernization strategies. Rather than replacing legacy systems wholesale, organizations are increasingly isolating legacy platforms, exposing data through APIs, and building modern integration layers around existing infrastructure. This pragmatic approach allows new capabilities to be introduced while reducing implementation risk and extending the value of existing technology investments.
AI Can Accelerate Progress, But It Can’t Replace the Foundation
AI is beginning to change the economics of interoperability.
Participants shared examples of AI reducing development effort, transforming data across formats, extracting value from unstructured information, supporting automation, and helping bridge interoperability gaps where standards remain incomplete.
At the same time, the discussion surfaced an important caution. AI can sometimes “cover the cracks” rather than repair the foundation. It may make fragmented environments easier to work with, but it cannot resolve the underlying questions around governance, business incentives, investment models, or data ownership that ultimately shape interoperability success.
AI should strengthen interoperability strategies, not become a substitute for solving the foundational issues that continue to influence how healthcare organizations exchange and use data.
The Future of Interoperability
Perhaps the strongest signal of where interoperability is headed came from the discussion around longitudinal patient records.
Few participants questioned the value of bringing together information from providers, health plans, pharmacies, laboratories, and other care settings to create a more complete picture of a patient’s journey. The greater challenge lies in operationalizing that vision responsibly.
Questions around ownership, source of truth, conflicting records, consent management, and the secondary use of longitudinal data remain unresolved. Addressing them will require more than technology. It will require collaboration, governance, and trust across the healthcare ecosystem.
For years, interoperability was measured by an organization’s ability to exchange information and satisfy regulatory requirements. Increasingly, it will be measured by its ability to create value from connected data.
Healthcare has made remarkable progress over the past decade. Standards are stronger, technology is more mature, and AI is accelerating implementation in ways that were difficult to imagine only a few years ago.
The next phase of interoperability will depend on more than technology. It will require aligned incentives, sustained investment in reusable capabilities, thoughtful governance, and a shared commitment to turning connected data into better outcomes. That is what transforms interoperability from a regulatory requirement into competitive infrastructure.
This article was inspired by the thoughtful discussion and diverse perspectives shared during the Interoperability as Competitive Infrastructure executive roundtable at the Emids Healthcare Summit 2026. My sincere thanks to the healthcare leaders whose openness and practical insights helped shape the ideas captured here.
Roundtable Participants
- Mark Lombardi, SVP, Provider Strategy & Partnerships, Thyme Care
- Frank Harvey, CEO, Surescripts
- David Weeks, Sr. VP & Chief Technology Officer, NASCO
- Anupriyo Chakravarti, Chief Technology & Product Officer, Verisma
- Nick Coussoule, Senior Advisor, Oliver Wyman
- Navaneet Barathalwar, Chief Technology Officer, BCBSA
- Frank Manzella, EVP, Global Corporate Development, RLDatix
- Sumant Rao, CPTO, Vatica Health
- Justin Gates, Chief Commercial Officer, Argent Health
- Sanjay Ramaswamy, Director, Software Engineering, Surescripts
