Interoperability Standards for Health Information Systems
Making the eHealth Connection, August 2008
By Christopher Bailey, Phillipe Boucher, David Kibbe, David J. Lubinski, Mark Spohr, M.D., Patrick Whitaker
“Interoperability” means the ability to communicate and exchange data accurately, effectively, securely, and consistently with different information technology systems, software applications, and networks in various settings, and exchange data so the clinical or operational purpose and meaning of the data are preserved and unaltered.1
For our purposes, we will focus on interoperability standards as the agreed-upon common elements within and between systems that allow the effective and reliable reuse of health information. We are making two key assumptions that are integral to interoperability-standards work:
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As much as possible, health information systems should record a piece of data only once. This data can then be reused accurately for different or similar purposes elsewhere in the system or in other systems.
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In general, data interoperability is preferable to monolithic integrated systems. Integrated systems appeal due to an appearance of simplicity (there is no need in integrated systems, for example, to develop a semantic infrastructure). However, integrating systems into a single monolithic technological platform is not desirable due to the high risk of failure, reduced opportunities for innovation, and the unlikelihood that groups will buy in after they have already invested substantially in their own systems, which are customized to their needs.
1Executive Order of the President of the United States, August 22, 2006
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