Objective¶
The objective of the Caribbean Healthcare Interoperability Architecture is to provide a shared and practical foundation for enabling cross-border healthcare interoperability in the Caribbean. It defines a set of reusable digital building blocks, common data structures, and interaction patterns that support the secure and efficient exchange of health information between organisations and countries.
It aims to reduce fragmentation, improve continuity of care, and enable better coordination across clinical care, public health, and regulatory processes. It supports stakeholders in designing and implementing solutions that are compatible with each other, while allowing flexibility in how these solutions are realised within local contexts.
Rather than prescribing a single system or enforcing compliance, it provides guidance that can be adopted incrementally. It enables countries and organisations to align over time, building on existing systems and investments, and fostering regional collaboration.
Scope¶
The reference architecture focuses on the digital interoperability required to support cross-border healthcare processes in the Caribbean. This includes the definition of architecture principles, service layers, and digital building blocks that enable the exchange of data between independent systems.
The scope covers key cross-border scenarios such as patient referrals, laboratory services, medicines regulation and monitoring, and public health response. It addresses how information related to patients, products, and events can be identified, shared, and interpreted across organisational and national boundaries.
It does not define or replace national systems, nor does it prescribe specific technologies or implementations. Foundational digital public infrastructure, legal frameworks, and governance arrangements are considered as dependencies and constraints, but are not defined in detail within this architecture.
The architecture is intended as a reference that can be used by policymakers, architects, and implementers to guide decision-making and support the gradual development of interoperable solutions across the region.