157: Bridging Healthcare Data Silos with Technology

*Note: this podcast and video were originally published on our website here on 5/28/25.

Healthcare Data Silos Cause Problems Throughout the Healthcare System

If you talk to any healthcare provider, and most patients, about healthcare data sharing, you quickly discover that one of the biggest problems patients and providers face is healthcare data silos. What do I mean by that? Imagine you see your primary care physician. Your PCP determines you need an evaluation by a specialist. They put in a referral. You go see the specialist like an orthopedic surgeon, and that provider determines you should try a conservative treatment by another sub specialist, like a physical therapist. Fast forward 2 months and you follow-up with your PCP. The PCP asks you how things have been going and you say you don’t feel any improvement. So, your PCP tells you that they believe you would benefit from a physical therapy course of treatment.

Now you’re annoyed. “How did you not know that I’ve just finished up 8 weeks of PT treatment?” you might be thinking. Here’s the problem: your PCP put in the referral for the original specialist, but then had no idea about the PT. Maybe they received some kind of follow-up communication of note from the orthopedic surgeon. But your PCP has not insight into the rest of the course of care.

This is the problem caused by healthcare data silos. So, this week, I sit down with Rick Mirell from Arrow Health to talk about the challenge with healthcare data silos and some new technology-driven tools that aim to solve this problem for the industry.

What we cover in this Episode:

• The importance of open flow of data in healthcare

• The breakdown in communication and data between healthcare systems and provider

• How data can improve clinical outcomes

• The patient experience when healthcare data isn’t shared well