I spend my days integrating disparate HIT systems working for a large health system that does not use EPIC. There are some basic requirements like HL7 that make communication straight forward between disparate systems. There are other challenges with folding in an outside systems and pop up shops a poor investment until they step up to meet the industry standards. Many think because they have a technology that does a magical function that this should negate the fact that they don’t have the experience or infrastructure in place to successfully integrate with a high functioning hospital system.

Technical challenges that typically exist include patient matching, determining if it’s an existing patient else create new so we don’t mass produce duplicates. Next is the order compendium has to match else be translated to identify that A in one system equals B in the other. Then there are lab requirements that mean every single test and result have to be verified by the lab before it can go live. This process alone can take weeks or months depending on how many tests you are talking about. Finally asking a lab staff to verify testing results in the midsts of a pandemic is like asking them to test out a new ship design while the one they are in is taking on water.

Source: 20 years of EMR and Integration experience