Challenge
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image: Shutterstock, copyright Foto-Ruhrgebiet |
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image: Shutterstock, copyright Konstantin Sutyagin |
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image: Shutterstock, copyright devi |
Newly emerging technologies such as a smart electrical grid (i.e., Smart Grid), interoperable electronic healthcare records, and cloud computing promise to transform our society and galvanize U.S. industry. For each technology to be effective, however, many complex interconnected components must be fully interoperable, able to exchange information, and work together seamlessly on a nationwide scale.
Lack of standards for interoperability can significantly slow adoption of these emerging technologies, dampen confidence in industry, and increase the risks of stranded investments in solutions that quickly become obsolete.
A nationwide Smart Grid would improve the reliability, flexibility, and efficiency of the power grid. It could help consumers lower energy costs while helping to minimize energy consumption. When fully deployed, the Smart Grid will incorporate sophisticated new information-technology applications that will help bring energy security and meet energy independence goals for the U.S. electrical grid, which comprises of more than 9, 000 power-generation plants connected to more than 300, 000 miles of transmission lines. It must work with local renewable energy sources such as solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells, and interact with the countless smart power meters and appliances of residential and business consumers across the nation. This requires mutually agreed-upon standards and test and evaluation protocols for interoperability.
Today’s healthcare industry lags behind other fields in the use of information technology. For example, only 13 percent of doctors use any form of electronic health records. It is estimated that only 1.5 percent of U.S. hospitals have a comprehensive electronic-records system, and an additional 7.6 percent of U.S. hospitals only have a basic system, even though $1 out of every $6 of the U.S. economy is spent on health care. Greater adoption and use of electronic health records can reduce the number of medical errors and lead to direct reductions in healthcare costs. Standards-based interoperability is essential to realize wide deployment of electronic health records and their full potential to improve the quality and efficiency of the nation's healthcare system.
