After decades in healthcare IT, most “solutions” still act like toolkits. Here’s why that model fails — and what real interoperability should look like.
A note from the founder
After 30 years in healthcare IT, too many “interoperability solutions” are still toolkits wearing a solution’s costume. It’s time someone actually fixed the car.
By Joerg Schwarz · VP of Sales & Growth · 7 min read
Let’s be real — are most interoperability tools a scam?
I’ve been in healthcare IT for over 30 years, and too many “interoperability solutions” are just toolkits wearing a solution’s costume.
Imagine driving into a repair shop with your check engine light on, and the manager says:
Sure, we can help. Here’s an open bay, here’s the lift, here are the tools. You figure out what’s broken and fix it yourself. That’ll be $XXX,XXX for the privilege.
That’s exactly how most interoperability “solutions” work.
You buy the toolkit.
You learn the tools.
You do the work.
And you keep paying.
At intely.io, no assembly required.
Need to connect your application to an EMR, ERP, RIS, PACS, RCM, or anything else?
We build it. You use it.
Fixed cost. No surprises.
Fixed timeline. No excuses.
A solution isn’t a platform you’re handed.
A solution is an outcome — delivered.
Here’s the Intely model:
HL7 v2, FHIR R4, REST, SMART-on-FHIR, flat file, proprietary APIs — whatever the system speaks.
You tell us the endpoints. We deliver a working connection.
You get a number before we start.
No open-ended SOW.
No “professional services” padding.
If we miss, that’s on us.
New site live in 4–8 weeks for standard integrations.
No endless discovery phase.
No “circle back next quarter.”
The “toolkit tax” hits three groups hardest.
Building great software. Losing months to every hospital integration.
You’ve built a great product.
Then comes reality:
Your roadmap gets hijacked by:
What we do:
We become your integration layer across every system.
What it means:
You sell. We integrate. You go live.
You bought the hospital. Now what about the data?
Every acquisition creates:
You can’t:
What we do:
What it means:
You don’t have an IT department. You have patients.
This is the group the industry ignores.
Typical reality:
A platform license you can barely afford, a training program for staff you don’t have, and an implementation timeline longer than your grant cycle.
That’s not interoperability.
That’s fake interoperability.
What we do:
We act as your integration team.
We connect:
What it means:
You focus on patients. We handle the data.
Healthcare has been sold the same model for decades:
Buy the platform
Hire the engineers
Build it yourself
That worked for vendors.
It didn’t work for everyone else.
Interoperability is not a toolkit problem.
It’s a delivery problem.
Once you accept that, the model is simple:
After 30 years, it’s time someone actually fixed the car.
Stuck in the bay with a wrench in your hand?
Let’s talk.
No assembly required.
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