Highlights:

• Bringing these groups into the fold is beneficial both to providers' work but also to their own efforts, he said. For example, a food pantry would benefit from having data on people's allergies, and a homeless shelter should have access to information on medication regimens for people staying there.
• Williams said that "there's a lot of creative work to do" in bringing these social services organizations up to speed on interoperability. For one, it's unclear what kind of workflow is in place for this type of data-sharing, she said. There should be a defined point person who will take in information from public health organizations and incorporate it into an individual patient's data so that it can be used.
• Providers and health plans are under the gun to comply with federal regulations on interoperability, though these rules have been delayed twice due to COVID-19. Despite the extra time, a recent survey found both are struggling to keep up.

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