The Issue with Traditional Healthcare IT
Technological advancements change and increase with rapid speed. Healthcare is facing many challenges that would benefit from increased and improved digitalisation of processes. Meanwhile, the innate complexity of healthcare as a domain means that the systems required to support it have grown complex as well. Any chance to these systems, either to improve them or replace them entirely, is both time-consuming and costly.
A large part of the complexity of healthcare IT lies in its architecture – monolithic applications, in which data and functionality are intertwined, make innovation complexer than it needs to be. Such monoliths are known to hold organisations’ data hostage, something which is also known as ‘vendor lock-in. Data extraction from such systems is not only made difficult, it is often thwarted by the very structure and business model of systems that should be designed to support healthcare, not hinder it.
But that is exactly what is happening: healthcare organisations keep working with outdated technology that not fully serves their needs, simply because the cost and complexity of making a switch is so daunting.
Ending Vendor Lock-in with openEHR
So, change is daunting, yes, but not impossible. It requires a change of the architectural structure of healthcare IT as a whole and, luckily, we can get there in incremental steps.
It all starts with standardisation and a separation of data and application (functionality). Those familiar with the openEHR standard, will know that this is precisely what it stands for. openEHR provides a standardised, vendor-neutral approach to modelling and storing clinical data by means of an approach called two-level modelling. The reference model defines stable, universal data structures, while archetypes and templates allow domain experts to specify clinical concepts.
The separation of data and application is a powerful foundation for innovation. When clinical data is stored according to openEHR specifications in a platform such as Cadasto, it becomes truly portable and reusable. Applications can query and update patient data through the standardised openEHR APIs, without needing to understand proprietary data structures or maintain custom integration code. This means that multiple applications, whether commercial products or internally developed tools, can work with the same underlying data seamlessly. You can start small with this: set up an open platform and connect one or two applications first, or use an open platform to store historical data.
Perhaps most significantly, openEHR’s approach enables healthcare organisations to avoid vendor lock-in. Because the data layer is standardised and accessible through open APIs, organisations can switch applications, add new modules, or build custom solutions without migrating or transforming their core clinical data. The data remains stable and accessible regardless of which applications come and go, protecting the organisation’s most valuable asset: the longitudinal patient record.
The Promise of Low-Code/No-Code Platforms
So, we have established that using an openEHR data layer will allow for faster innovation and implementation of new technology. Even so, this technology will need to be built – enter low-code and no-code platforms!
To many less technical individuals, developing applications seems no less than an arcane art. Even so, sometimes the very individuals who know a domain best and know what it needs in terms of functionality, won’t be able to find a solution that suits their specific needs, much less build it themselves.
Low-code and no-code platforms aim to make the development process more accessible. Providing visual building blocks, pre-built components and advanced configuration options, these platforms enable the development of fully functional applications within a fraction of the time. The main difference between low-code and no-code lies in its target user. No-code is designed mainly for less technical users, to allow them to build apps with fully visual building blocks. Low-code on the other hand, is generally used by professional developers needing faster development, to create complex, scalable, and integrated applications, with the option to add custom scripting or coding. Each approach has its merits.
When combined with an openEHR data platform such as Cadasto, such coding platforms become exponentially more effective. The standardised data models and APIs provided by openEHR eliminate one of the most time-consuming aspects of healthcare application development: designing and implementing data structures and integration layers. Developers can immediately begin building user interfaces and workflow logic, confident that the underlying data layer is robust, standardised, and already structured according to the broader clinical system.
Future-Proof Healthcare IT
To conclude, it is safe to say that the combination of openEHR and low-code/no-code development promises to provide a solid foundation for long-term healthcare IT sustainability and the flexibility required for innovation.
Cadasto actively collaborates with coding platforms who aim to support and transform healthcare like we do. Companies like WEM and USoft share our vision on the strong combination of openEHR and low-code/no-code platforms:
“Making our healthcare system more efficient and improving the quality of care continue to dominate discussions within the sector. The urgency for transformation is therefore unprecedented, with digital innovation, alongside regulation, perhaps offering the greatest potential for a sustainable and future-proof healthcare system. This does mean that we must move away from the traditional approach of closed data storage and systems that focus primarily on administration rather than providing effective support to healthcare providers and healthcare processes.
It is precisely from this point of view that I am very enthusiastic about recent developments in, for example, openEHR and low-code. Where this was not possible before, healthcare organisations can now use technologies such as Cadasto and USoft to create a strong best-of-breed combination that is capable of delivering what is needed to transform our healthcare system: a strong foundation of standardised and fully open data, supplemented by the ability to quickly and flexibly create applications that can support any healthcare process in a customised way, including the latest techniques in automation and AI.”
“openEHR provides the right foundation by decoupling data from applications. No-code then makes it possible to deliver value on that foundation quickly and in a controlled way.
Together with Cadasto, we see how healthcare organisations can modernise step by step, without locking their data back in or slowing down innovation.”
Keen to know more? Get in touch!
Are you interested in discussing your organisation’s challenges and how the combination of openEHR and low-code/no-code might help you solve them? We’d love to hear from you.
