Barriers and requirements for achieving interoperable eHealth technology in primary care

Despite its great promises, eHealth is not yet structurally embedded within the IT infrastructure of primary care. This is mainly due to the fact that healthcare technologies have been developed without coordination and a centralized approach [1], which in turn has led to a lack of shared standards among the different systems for exchanging data (interoperability). The benefits and barriers for interoperability in healthcare have thoroughly been described in literature. Benefits include the availability of up to date information, improved quality of care and cost savings, while barriers include information overload, costs, security & privacy, and liability issues [2,3]. None of these overviews, however, have listed the barriers and prerequisites towards interoperability within primary care on the level of single healthcare professionals in relation to their daily work practice.