La American Association of Orthodontics ha approvato la sua posizione e suggerimento sull’interoperabilità dei software ortodontici.

12-22 BOT – Interoperability Policy

Resolution #: 12-22 BOT Date:May 6, 2022 Resolution Status:In Process Resolution:

RESOLVED, that it be the position of the American Association of Orthodontists that the developers of orthodontic software should implement open and non-proprietary standards for data interoperability when available, and be it further

RESOLVED, that the American Association of Orthodontists supports the development of new open, non-proprietary data standards by stakeholders, and be it further

RESOLVED, that the American Association of Orthodontists assesses open and non-proprietary data interoperability plans in new programs and budgetary matters.

Background

Many limitations are encountered with existing EHRs and billing systems because information sent from one system cannot be understood by another. If standardized patient data could be imported and exported, analytical techniques could be used to analyze data efficiently. Then improvements in patient referrals and transfers, practice audits and timeliness of billing transactions would occur. Moreover, data repositories could be created with the aim of sparking innovations in treatment modalities, practice functionality, and overall patient health. At the present time, software vendors may create interfaces to transfer data, but such methods are expensive and prone to error.

Intent

Currently, orthodontic providers and patients do not have full control over the entire lifecycle of their orthodontic data. The intent of this effort is to provide a well-defined framework/infrastructure which the orthodontic software industry can use to build products that protect the privacy and ownership of the data, giving full control over the entire life cycle of orthodontic data. It is not the intent of this effort to allow free access to orthodontic data to anyone.

The intent of AAO’s intervention should be to help, ease, aid, and simplify the transition from the current state of mostly siloed non-interoperable orthodontic software by removing or smoothing the hurdles that currently prevent or slow down industry from doing this on their own.

The reason why the AAO needs to intervene in this effort (which could otherwise have been addressed by the industry) is that the orthodontic community has waited for solutions related to interoperability for two to three decades, and very little progress has occurred.

Our goal is to reach a point where orthodontists are able to pick freely between software products and plug them into their practices without major data conversion hurdles and costs. Additionally, we believe that doctors should be able to exchange protected orthodontic data between each other, among institutions and business partners, and across borders without technical barriers.

A developer should always make use of existing standards. If there are no standards, a developer is expected to invent a new standard. When a new standard is invented, it shall be made public, and eventually adopted by a Standards DevelopmentOrganization (SDO). Orthodontic software projects should only be awarded funds or prizes if their proposals include non-proprietary and standards-based data interoperability solutions (when applicable).