Advantages of Open Digital Backends (Backbones) In Healthcare

The debate in healthcare between closed and open digital systems been ongoing for as long as new technology has been arriving in the medical community and is pervasive well outside of healthcare – cell phone technology (iPhone vs Android), personal computers (PC vs Linux), automobiles (Tesla vs Ford) are common areas of dispute. In healthcare, closed systems, also known as walled gardens, typically come from a single vendor, integrate with existing systems, and offer streamlined support and security for devices. Conversely, open systems allow clinical teams to select different systems and equipment and facilitate integration without having to rely on a single vendor. 

While both systems have benefits for their users, an open system provides more advantages that positively impact the interests of healthcare providers and improve patient outcomes.  

The Benefits of Closed Systems 

1. Simplified User Experience

 By controlling every aspect of the ecosystem – from hardware to software, and often services – closed systems create a seamless and intuitive user experience. This simplified front end eliminates the complexities of integration, compatibility issues, and the burden of choice that can often overwhelm users in open environments. 

2. Single Point of Contact

Closed systems offer a distinct advantage: a single point of contact. When something goes awry – and it inevitably does – users know precisely where to turn. This simplifies troubleshooting, streamlines support, and provides a level of assurance that can be difficult to find in the fragmented landscape of open systems. This is certainly a double-edged sword, making the vendor a single point of failure, if they do not fulfill the needs of their customer or encounter catastrophic issues as a company. 

3. A Cohesive Product Vision and Roadmap 

 Closed systems often operate under a unified product vision and roadmap, resulting in a cohesive system of interconnected parts that evolve together over time. This curated approach, managed through a carefully planned product timeline, allows for deep integration and optimization that can be challenging to achieve when different entities are responsible for different components, each with their own product roadmap. The benefit is a product that feels holistic, where features work seamlessly together because they were designed to do so from the ground up. The downside, however, is that you are beholden to a single company’s roadmap. If that company fails to innovate or pivots in a direction that doesn’t align with your needs, you’re left with limited options 

The Benefits of Open Systems  

1. Enhanced Interoperability 

Open ecosystems have no proprietary barriers to cut through, enabling easier data sharing across the care continuum, from clinical frontlines to supporting labs and diagnostics. When data from all episodes of care and devices is aggregated in a centralized location, it ensures a complete and accurate patient records, increasing the value of care provided.  

2. Fostering Innovation 

As mentioned — and as any chief technology officer will tell you — an open system is capable of accommodating new technology with significantly less effort than one requiring proprietary connections. As a result, open systems promote an entire ecosystem of innovative tools  and products. This keeps providers on the leading edge of medical developments and encourages high benchmarks for quality patient care. 

3. Increased Data Security Options 

In the face of rapidly evolving cyber threats, open systems offer unparalleled agility and adaptability. Their inherent flexibility allows organizations to quickly switch between and integrate diverse security solutions, leveraging a competitive ecosystem of best-of-breed vendors to create a layered and customized defense. This freedom to choose and adapt is crucial when new vulnerabilities emerge, empowering organizations to pivot swiftly and adopt new technologies or specialized countermeasures. Unlike the static nature of closed systems, open systems foster customization and control, enabling organizations to tailor their security posture to their unique needs and risk profiles, ensuring they are not confined by pre-set security parameters but are instead empowered to proactively combat emerging threats. 

4. Reduction of Extra Costs 

Each proprietary system or piece of medical equipment has additional costs associated with it: a licensing fee, a contract, service agreement or cybersecurity package. Layer upon layer can make the costs climb quickly, multiplied if multiple systems are being used. Open systems can significantly reduce technology costs by breaking the chains of vendor lock-in and the associated brand premiums often found with proprietary solutions. By leveraging commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software, organizations gain access to a competitive marketplace where multiple vendors vie for business, driving down prices and offering greater choice. This ability to mix and match components, combined with the flexibility and scalability inherent in open systems, allows for incremental upgrades and avoids the costly overhauls often required with closed systems.  

5. Optimized Video Management 

An open system can simplify video routing to any specified location and support storage and on-demand availability of videos and images. Proprietary systems have limited options for video storage. This can hinder video sharing, often costing significant time while non-compatible systems are patched together, if possible. The massive amount of video and imaging in healthcare necessitates a system that allows for efficient storage and flexible access and transfer of videos and images.  

6. Future-ready Technology  

Medical innovation marches ever onward. Open ecosystems on cloud or open-architecture backbones are able to incorporate new or previously unheard-of offerings through a rapid innovation cycle. This creates a cost-effective, flexible solution for upgrades without costly infrastructure overhauls. This future-ready approach ensures providers can readily adopt cutting-edge tools and deliver the best possible care. 

7. Better Collaboration Among Providers 

Data shared between medical providers allows each to provide more informed and complete care to patients. However, with the wide range of practice and technology stacks across healthcare, the ability to share and transfer information is often limited by proprietary languages and protocols (the classic example is the Epic to Cerner problem). Open systems are designed and built to communicate to other standards, and support collaboration across multiple systems and users, from hospital to clinic to specialty office, ensuring a more comprehensive picture of patient health. 

8. Improved Patient Empowerment 

Healthcare providers are feeling increasing pressure and mandate to provide patients with their own health data, and with patients increasingly take a role in their own care, data transportability is key. An open system is ideal for patient-centered care with its ability to simplify patient access across their own personal devices and systems, to facilitate sharing across providers, and to allow adoption of new tools and standards over time. Proprietary systems wall off data from other sources, making patient personalization fragmented and more difficult to provide.  

9. Compliance with Regulations 

Adhering to national regulations requires seamless access to data and portability, which can be tedious when access to multiple systems is needed. By enabling standardized data sharing across commonly used platforms and native technology stacks, open ecosystems reduce the risk of non-compliance, reducing the burden on the IT department 

10. Reducing Vendor Lock-In  

Providers using open systems have the freedom to switch providers or adopt better technologies as they become available. And, we have recently witnessed the dangers of sole-vendor power when a single update from Crowdstrike disabled most air travel across the United States. Healthcare must reduce  dependency on one technology vendor, and, to ensure access to the best solutions on the market at all times. 

Advance Patient Care with an Open System

An open ecosystem gives providers the capacity to take patient care to new heights. Implementing or converting to a open ecosystem does not require investment, restructuring, or process change. Caresyntax’s Connected Surgery solution is a novel open ecosystem that is vendor-neutral and cost-efficient for more than 20 years, utilizing existing infrastructure within the hospital. With Caresyntax, providers can unlock the full potential of their healthcare technology and improve patient outcomes.