6 practical steps to building a more connected clinic today

Disconnected systems don’t just slow you down – they cost time, increase risk and ultimately compromise care. But moving towards a more connected, interoperable clinic doesn’t mean you need a huge IT project or to rip everything out and start from scratch.

At our latest Semble Insights webinar on building a connected, scalable clinic, Semble Co-founder and CTO, Mikael Landau discussed with Sophie Valentine, Product Lead at Aneira Health, shared their experiences on how to make change happen without the need to build from the ground up.

Here are six practical steps to help you get started today.

1. Pinpoint one problem to solve

The first step is identifying where your clinic is feeling the most friction. That might be delays in report sharing, a broken handover process or missing lab results during consultations. Rather than chasing a big transformation, focus on one area where improvement would create the most impact.

As Sophie explained, “If there was one thing that you could change, what would that one thing be? It’s easy to have a big wishlist — but the key is to start small and be clear on where your clinic is falling short or you want to improve.”

2. Map out where interoperability can help

Once you’ve identified the problem, figure out which systems or workflows need to communicate better. Maybe you’re collecting useful data but it lives in a spreadsheet, an inbox or even just in someone’s head.

At Aneira Health, Sophie described how they integrate data from lab providers, wearables, consultations and digital questionnaires: “We need to be able to bring this all together to be meaningfully ingested by a clinician within a number of seconds or minutes.”

If it takes hours or multiple logins to get a full picture of the patient, interoperability is likely the missing link

3. Simplify before you connect

Sometimes it’s not about connecting more tools – it’s about using fewer. Mikael noted: “The less tools you have, the less you need to make them talk to each other… so the less interoperability becomes important.”

Clinics often try to fix broken systems by layering on more complexity. But reducing the number of disconnected tools can make interoperability cleaner and more effective when you do implement it.

Have an uudit your tech stack: Are you duplicating tools? Using systems that no longer serve you? Simplification is often the best first step.

4. Use the right tool for the right job

Not every platform can do everything, and that’s fine. What matters is whether your tools are doing their job well and can exchange data effectively.

“If you want to do an education campaign around prostate cancer for example,” Mikael explained, “your EHR should be able to tell your CRM who are the patients they need to reach out to.”

That kind of seamless communication between systems allows you to serve patients better, without adding admin overhead or manual exports.

5. Start with no-code or low-code solutions

You don’t need to be a developer (or hire one) to make progress. Start with tools that offer simple, no-code integrations. “We’re a big fan at Aneira of short-term interoperability-enabling tools,” said Sophie. “Maybe it’s Zapier, maybe Slack automations. You don’t need to know how to code – it’s really an opportunity to start making impact in the very near term.”

Systems like Semble Connect are designed to make that process easier, giving clinics a way to automate key workflows and integrate with other tools without needing expensive APIs or complex development work.

6. Build change management into your plan

Even small improvements require buy-in. As Mikael put it, “Things don’t happen magically. You need to align people around a common goal, a common mission.” Whether you’re a small team or a larger organisation, adoption won’t happen by accident; it takes intention, ownership and communication.

Sophie echoed this point: “Change is really, really challenging… so we need to focus on high-impact opportunities and really collaborate with our clinical teams.”

That might mean training, piloting, feedback loops or even assigning a Change Lead within your team. However you do it, make space for people to adapt.