I have been thinking often about communication as we move into spring – how two people or two organizations can seem to be speaking a different language event when using the same words. About how – in these uncertain spaces – coming to a shared understanding is more important than ever.

I think about difficulties in exchanging data as we look to Thursday’s second of four webinars in our Change in Action Webinar Series on Interoperability: Continuing to Remove Barriers to Value-Based Success (Are we talking to one another, yet?). We are using the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society definition of interoperability “…the ability of health information systems to work together, within and across  organizational boundaries, in order to advance the effective delivery of healthcare for individuals and populations.”

Interoperable data systems continue to be both a barrier and an enabler to adopting value-based care in our Washington State Health Care Authority’s value-based payment survey – as was true in the 2020 survey. So as the Bree Collaborative, Foundation for Health Care Quality and the Washington Health Alliance sought to accelerate our health care delivery system’s transition from fee for service to value-based care, we developed a framework that took the form of four webinars in 2021 (Framework for Action) and four webinars in 2022 (Change in Action) – social determinants of health – interoperability – shared data definitions – and multipayor initiatives. Our goal at Thursday’s webinar is to create a shared understanding of interoperability and of its importance to value-based success, orient thinking to being person- rather than organizational-specific, identify pathways to success, and describe how everyone contributes to meaningful change and what we can realistically achieve in the next five years. We want our audience to walk away (or rather click away as this is virtual) with a plan to take meaningful steps toward value.

We hope to foster a sense of trust between our multiple health care sectors. Again, and again trust is highlighted as the most important aspect to data sharing – a recent article from the National Academy of Medicine reiterated the importance of trust. This theme of communication and trust will come through all of our speakers – Jan Berger, MD, JD, President and CEO, Health Intelligence Partners; Vishal Chaudhry, MS, FACHE, CPHQ, Chief Data Officer and Cathie Ott, Information Technology Strategic Advisor, Washington State Health Care Authority; and our panel discussion with Rick Rubin, CEO, One Health Port; Marla McLaughlin, MD, Medical Director, Central and East Regions, Vera Whole Health; and Sakshi Jain, MHA, Manager, Strategic Programs, Premera Blue Cross to discuss Washington State’s data pipes, provider, and health plan infrastructure, architecture, and potential.

I hope that you join us on Thursday. Register here.