What characterized the earliest forms of digital health data communication before structured standards?

Reliance on proprietary formats or manual magnetic tape transfers

In the nascent stages of digital health, long before formal standards like HL7 gained traction, the ability to move health data between separate systems was technically challenging and highly inefficient. Communication frequently failed to achieve true interoperability because systems often relied on unique, non-standardized, or proprietary formats specific to individual vendors or institutions. When electronic transfer was necessary, the processes were rudimentary, sometimes involving manual methods such as mailing or faxing physical records, or even the physical transportation of data stored on magnetic tapes between institutions that needed to share information.