For Australian healthcare tech entrepreneurs, electronic health record (EHR) interoperability is one of the most persistent – and promising – challenges in digital healthcare. 

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You might be building a custom app to improve patient outcomes or streamline workflows, but if it can’t connect to the existing systems used by hospitals and clinics, you're running uphill. The good news? That’s changing. 

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New standards, APIs, and regulations are opening doors for smarter, faster integration. But navigating that shift requires a solid understanding of how interoperability works on the larger healthcare playing field. Let’s deepdive in what’s holding back patient data sharing and how that is harmful to patient and healthcare practitioner. Most importantly, we will have a look at how to tackle a custom software solution through a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to combine the different silo’s of patient records in an app or software that actually works for the benefit of health care provider and patient alike.

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Why Data Silos Hurt Patient Care

Across healthcare systems in Australia and globally, EHRs don’t talk to each other nearly as well as they should. The result is a network of data silos — each system storing its own version of the truth.

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This isn’t just a tech headache. It creates real risks for patient safety, care quality, and operational efficiency. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT reports that nearly 48% of hospitals in the US share data with outside providers but do not receive data back. This lack of two-way exchange is echoed in systems across the world, including Australia.

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When data can’t move freely:

• Doctors make decisions based on incomplete information
• Patients fill out the same forms over and over
• Lab tests are duplicated unnecessarily
• Life-saving context — like allergies or medications — is often missing

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In a sector where every second and every decision counts, disconnected data isn’t just inefficient. It’s unsafe.

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So Why Is It Still So Hard?

It’s not an easy question to answer and the way private and public healthcare operates in silo’s are partly to blame. There are a few key reasons evident throughout, however:

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Legacy systems don’t speak the same language

Most hospitals and practices use different EHR systems, each with its own architecture, data formats, and export methods. Think of it as trying to connect a MacBook to a VHS player — possible, maybe, but painful.

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Privacy concerns complicate sharing

Patient data is rightly protected under strict laws. But that often leads to over-caution, with providers blocking even legitimate data access due to uncertainty.

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There’s been no standard playbook — until now

Until recently, there was no universal framework for sharing health data. As a result, each vendor developed its own methods. Integration meant bespoke connections — time-consuming, expensive, and hard to maintain.

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Here’s What’s Changing: The Interoperability Breakthrough using Tech

Now for the good news: the industry is beginning to crack the code of EHR interoperability, thanks to three key developments.

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APIs Are Opening Doors

APIs — application programming interfaces — act like translators between software systems. They allow one system (say, your app) to securely request or send data to another (like a hospital EHR).

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Governments are pushing vendors to make standard APIs available. In the US, all certified EHR systems must offer APIs that follow set standards. The Health IT.gov API policy page outlines how these APIs enable patients and providers to access data without waiting for manual export or approval.

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For developers, that means easier, faster integrations — and less reinventing the wheel.

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FHIR Has Become the New Common Language

FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is a modern data standard built by HL7. It structures healthcare data in a way that’s readable by both machines and humans, using familiar web formats like JSON and REST.

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FHIR allows different systems to understand the meaning of data, not just its format. It’s modular, scalable, and already being adopted by governments and health networks worldwide — including Australia's My Health Record platform.

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If you're building any app that needs to integrate with clinical systems, supporting FHIR is no longer optional — it’s essential.

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Regulators Are Forcing Progress

The U.S. government’s Information Blocking Rule went into effect in 2023, making it illegal for healthcare providers, IT vendors, or health information networks to unreasonably block access to patient data. Penalties can reach $1 million per violation.

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Australia has also taken steps through initiatives like the Australian Digital Health Agency’s push for better health information exchange and patient access.

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The message is clear: open access to health data is now expected — not optional.

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Why This Matters for Australian Health Tech Providers

For health tech entrepreneurs in Australia, this shift changes everything. You no longer need massive partnerships or a seat at a hospital boardroom to build something impactful. With the right standards and a smart approach, your app can be interoperable from day one.

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But that doesn’t mean you should try to do everything at once.

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Enter the MVP: The Smartest Way to Start

In a field as complex as healthcare, going “big” out the gate is risky. That’s why a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach is your best play.

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An MVP is not a half-finished app. It’s a focused version of your product, built to solve a specific problem with just enough functionality to validate the concept.

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Why it Matters for Your Healthcare App or Software

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You Avoid Overbuilding

Trying to support every EHR, every data type, and every workflow will drain your budget and delay your launch. An MVP lets you pick one integration, one use case, and build it right.

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You Validate Real-World Value Early

You don’t need a multi-hospital rollout to test your product. A pilot in one clinic, with a single FHIR-based API connection, might be enough to prove your value and attract further investment or partnerships.

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You Learn Fast and Pivot Smart

No product survives first contact with users unchanged. An MVP allows you to adjust quickly based on real usage, before you’ve committed to large-scale integrations.

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A Real Example: How Harrison.ai Did It Right

Sydney-based Harrison.ai didn’t try to tackle every clinical system on day one. Instead, they focused on a single diagnostic need — chest X-rays — and built an AI solution that integrated into existing workflows via hospital PACS systems and APIs.

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By showing real clinical value quickly, they secured buy-in and scaled with confidence. That’s MVP thinking in action.

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What to Include in Your Interoperable MVP

FHIR-compatible data structures: Build using open standards to ensure future integrations are smooth.

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Consent-driven data exchange: Privacy isn’t a feature — it’s a requirement.

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API-ready architecture: Even if you don’t connect to EHRs now, design with that path in mind.

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One real-world pilot partner: Feedback from actual clinicians is gold.

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The Right Partner Makes the Difference

Healthcare integration is complex. Even a strong MVP needs the right foundation — one built by people who understand both software architecture and healthcare’s regulatory, security, and data standards. In the past, disconnected systems were tolerated. Today, they’re unacceptable.

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Your ability to plug into the healthcare ecosystem — securely, quickly, and cleanly — is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a competitive edge. So start small. Solve one real problem. Build with standards like FHIR. Test in the wild. And make sure your app is designed to play nicely with the systems already in use. Because the future of healthcare is connected — and your product should be too.

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That’s where You Source comes in. With over a decade of experience and 500+ global clients, You Source has helped healthtech startups across Australia and beyond build custom software that’s secure, interoprable, scalable, built for practical use and impact and above all – beautiful and user-friendly.

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Whether you're building an AI-enabled diagnostic tool, a virtual care app, or a clinical dashboard, starting with the right MVP – and the right development team – sets the tone for success.

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