An insightful naïf learning about the difficulty of sharing one electronic health record from one hospital to another might reasonably ask "Why don't they just create a standard for data sharing so that I can install or delete health apps at will and view my data on several different electronic health record systems?" An expert will then inform that impertinent naïf that it's much more complicated than she understands and that the standards already exist. When challenged, the expert will cite several august committees which have ratified standards such as the Continuity of Care Document (CCD). At this point, our naive protagonist should refer the expert to this blog entry by Josh Mandel. If by then, the expert is not holding his hands to his ears, he will explain that all standards are evolving entities and that these challenges are just the expected missteps on the path of convergent evolution to interoperable samadhi.
