A great proportion of the electronic health record, the information about a person, are contained in commercial and proprietary databases, maintained to protect the company from client defection. It is part of the Apperta Foundation vision that vendors should compete on quality, value and service.

• Exchanging information for better deliver of care (appropriate sharing and linking)
• Exchanging information to enable clinicians and management to design better care pathways (eg knowing how many patients the pathway will affect: Pareto principle)
• Avoid the cost of systems closed to competition
• Clinicians understand more about how software is specified, and can be engaged in the specification
• Clinicians are engaged in implementation, which will increase user uptake and therefore delivery of benefits.