The terms of debate in the realm of data management are undergoing radical change. With data at the heart of so many activities – not just in business, but in government as well – we're seeing a shift away from arguing about the value of data. This argument has been won. The friction now is about impeding the flow of data. Flow is now a given: obstruction is a problem.
This is clear in a recent piece about “information blocking” in healthcare. Are EHR (electronic health record) vendors blocking the exchange of data across the value chain? Or is this a simplistic attempt to assign blame for problems in an inherently complex business area?
Whatever the rights and wrongs in the case, we need to notice that data flow is being seen here as a kind of right in itself – or as a natural feature of collaborating organizations. It's a great step forward to see things in this way. Every multi-party endeavor must have unimpeded, secure, and meaningful data flow. Otherwise the value of the whole will be even less than the sum of the parts. Health IT
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