Interoperability in Healthcare: The Challenge of the Single Patient Record - From Data Fragmentation to a Comprehensive View of the Care Pathway

Abstract: Summary: Healthcare information systems are traditionally closed, monolithic silos. This architecture makes it difficult, if not impossible, to develop and deploy innovative applications that could function interchangeably across different systems in hospitals, laboratories, or doctors' offices. This lack of interoperability stifles innovation and prevents healthcare professionals from benefiting from modern tools. The authors present SMART on FHIR as a solution to this problem. It is an open platform that combines two standards, FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and SMART (Substitutable Medical Apps, Reusable Technologies). The central idea is to create an ecosystem similar to that of app stores for health, where developers can create an application once and see it working on any SMART on FHIR compatible SIS. This article demonstrates the feasibility of the approach through: The development of a "Launchpad" (dashboard) allowing clinicians to launch applications directly from their SIS. The creation of prototype applications for various use cases (data visualization, decision support). Successful integration tests with several major SIS, proving that the approach is viable on a large scale. SMART on FHIR is presented as a paradigm shift. Instead of building increasingly complex closed systems, it proposes to create a simple and standardized platform on which a global community of developers can innovate. In summary, this article lays the technological groundwork for a more open, innovative and interoperable health ecosystem, considered a key component for the future of health information systems. Keywords: Interoperability, Heterogeneous systems, Data silos, Data fragmentation. Title: Interoperability in Healthcare: The Challenge of the Single Patient Record - From Data Fragmentation to a Comprehensive View of the Care Pathway Author: CT. DIONGA NDIBU Ornella, CT. LUBONGO MUEMBE Georgine, Ass. Glory ALONDA MADOMBA, Ass. Simplice EALE BOTULI, Prof. KABEYA TSHISEBA Cedric International Journal of Novel Research in Engineering and Science ISSN 2394-7349 Vol. 12, Issue 2, September 2025 - February 2026 Page No: 19-23 Novelty Journals Website: www.noveltyjournals.com Published Date: 29-November-2025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17768045 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.noveltyjournals.com/upload/paper/Interoperability%20in%20Healthcare-29112025-1.pdf