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Integrated Design and Process Technology, IDPT-2007

Printed in the United States of America, June, 2007


2007 Society for Design and Process Science

AN OVERVIEW OF INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS FOR


ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS

A. Begoyan

University of Westminster
School of Informatics
Department of Information Systems
115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW

Heterogeneities in healthcare software applications


ABSTRACT from (a) above are typical of heterogeneities in any other
problem domain, where a variety of platforms, systems,
This paper gives an overview of the interoperability databases, software applications, technologies etc exist.
standards for Electronic Healthcare Records (EHRs)
From this point of view, healthcare software systems do
which are offered by the world leading standard bodies:
not differ from any other. However, heterogeneity of
European Committee for Standardisation (CEN),
EHRs across healthcare systems from (b) above is a
International Organization for Standardization (ISO),
bigger problem. EHRs differ from application to
Health Level Seven (HL7) and Digital Imaging and application and from country to country. This means that
Communications in Medicine (DICOM). We have taken the structure of EHRs and the methods used for
information available in the original standards’ text as the
exchanging their content may vary significantly, thus
bases of our research. We outline what each of these
becoming an obstacle for sharing medical data or medical
standards offer and we compare the way they address the
records and developing software applications that support
interoperability of EHRs.
(i)-(iii) above.
The expected answer is in the standardization of
INTRODUCTION EHRs structure, content and the way of exchanging them,
Healthcare information systems have grown rapidly as described in (Gross, 2005), (Kalra, 2006), (Bossen,
in the last decade. They moved from isolated software 2006). There are initiatives from North America and
systems in hospitals or primary care organizations, European countries to engage their organizations and
towards solutions which support a continuous medical bodies responsible for standardization in general, with the
process and (i) include multiple healthcare professionals EHR standardization. Thus we have various EHR
and institutions, (ii) utilize ubiquitous computing standards which differ from country to country and which
healthcare environments and (iii) embrace technological cover different issues of EHR standardization. On top of
advances, typical of the domain of today’s pervasive that, these standards are not very stable. There are a
software applications. It is not a surprise that in such an number of reasons for that. Standards are constantly
interactive environment, we need to look at the evolving and changing, and the content and structure of
information sharing amongst healthcare software systems. EHRs is also changing in parallel due to technology and
This requires that all relevant patient clinical data is science advancement, thus pushing changes within
available and correct, thus supporting healthcare applications built upon such EHRs outside their initial
professionals at any time, any place and improving the domains and purposes (Beale, 2002). Even if we have
quality and delivery of healthcare. We have witnessed a achieved a certain level of EHR standardization, the
proliferation of solutions for effective EHR (Dumay, advancement of medial science would demand further
2002), (van Ginneken 2002), (Giusse, 2003), (Ueckert, changes in existing EHR standards. For example, medical
2003), (Valdes, 2004), (Kuhn, 2001), (Hsyien-Chi, 2007). science is currently placing great emphasis on genomics,
We are now in a specific situation characterized by: which requires the integration of biomedical information
(a) Heterogeneities in hardware and software with the EHR. If the current EHR structure has not
solutions that support healthcare software applications as already incorporated biomedical information it will have
a consequence of their evolution from the early 1960s; to be done soon. Therefore, standardization of the EHR
(b) Heterogeneities in the structure, purpose and needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to asses the
deployment of EHR in terms of their suitability for a current situation within the EHR standardization, and take
variety of healthcare systems that are growing in each steps to make EHR standards ‘future proof’ or adaptable
country in the world. to inevitable changes (Medisell, 2004).

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Healthcare informatics is full of various standards includes clinical and administrative data. Its headquarters
that help us to structure many aspects of healthcare is in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
software systems: from their architectures, software DICOM – Digital Imaging and Communications in
applications built from them to semantics stored within Medicine is an association of medical industry and
and structures of EHR. In this paper we overview medical professional organizations, working under the
standards for the interoperability of EHRs which exist umbrella of the National Electrical Manufacturers
across North America and Europe. We are interested in a Association (NEMA). They have delivered DICOM,
particular aspect of interoperability between diverse which is a de facto standard for medical image
healthcare systems, which should be able to exchange communication (DICOM). This standard allows an
information about patients and their medical history stored independent exchange between medical images and
within EHRs (Bott, 2004). Therefore: related information.
We are interested in software engineering solutions The purpose of this paper is to briefly overview the
that can alleviate interoperability problems in healthcare current situation within standards that regulate the
software applications, which depend on the data structures interoperability of EHRs and to learn the outcomes of
of EHRs. Thus any interoperability standard on EHR such standardizations. These outcomes then can be
could be a starting point when building such applications. adopted when software applications that deal with
We have learned that in spite of various initiatives for heterogeneities are designed. We would also like to see if
achieving the interoperability in healthcare software there are any components within such standardizations
applications through data sharing, such as e-GIF (Cabinet which lead towards ‘future-proof’ EHRs.
Office, 2005) in the UK, current EHRs are simply not This paper is structured as follows. In the next section
equipped with data items, which are essential if we want we define and discuss EHRs, their interoperability and
to share them across healthcare institutions (Slevin et al., prerequisites for their semantic interoperability. In the
2005) (Akram et al., 2007) . four sections that follow we discuss four EHR standards:
Five year ago the UK government initiated the ISO/TR 20514, ISO/TS 18308, ISO/TR 18307 derived by
National Program for Information Technology (NPfIT, ISO; CEN13606 and its five parts from CEN; Version 2x
2004), which has already approved the development of a and Version3x from HL7; and two standards from
centralized healthcare (patient) database for the UK DICOM - Web Access to DICOM Persistent Objects and
National Heath Service. Which standards on EHRs would DICOM Structured Reporting. We briefly touch the
they follow, if any? harmonization between standards, and conclude in the last
In order to review the situation within standards, section.
which deals with the interoperability of EHRs, we started
with the European standardization committee and its DEFINITIONS OF EHR AND INTEROPERABILITY
Interoperability working group IV within Technical
Committee 251 (CEN/TC 251). They list the following The definition of EHR varies from standard to
standard. According to CEN/TC251 Health Informatics,
standardization bodies responsible for EHR.
EHR is “a healthcare record in a computer readable
ISO is an International Organization for
format”. According to ISO/TR 20514 the basic-generic
Standardization which is currently a network of the
EHR is “healthcare record in a computer processable
national standards institutes of 157 countries. They work
on the basis of one member per country, with a Central format, which encapsulates readability but extends this to
Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the include the notion that information in the EHR must be
amenable to programmatic manipulation and therefore to
system. ISO produces EHR standards that are limited to
automatic processing” (ISO TC 215, ISO/TR 20514,
the structure and function of the EHR and the system that
2005).
processes EHR.
CEN is a European Committee for Standardisation. It ‘EHR systems’ are defined uniformly across CEN
is involved in developing multi-disciplinary standards and ISO: as “system[s] for recording, retrieving and
manipulating information in electronic health records”.
including health care systems and their interoperability.
Interoperability of EHR as defined in ISO (ISO TC
CEN covers European Union (EU) countries and some
215, ISO/TR 20514, 2005) is “the ability of two or more
affiliated countries outside the EU.
applications being able to communicate in an effective
HL7 stands for Health Level Seven. It is one of the
several American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - manner without compromising the content of the
accredited Standards Developing Organizations, which transmitted EHR”. They claim that it is important to
develop national and international standards for EHR
operates in the healthcare arena. It covers America, some
interoperability to be able to: (1) share patient health
European and Asian countries and Australia. Its purpose is
information between health professionals in a multi-
to provide standards for data exchange between different
disciplinary shared-care environment: (2) share patient
types of healthcare computer applications. HL7’s domain
health information between organizations within an

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enterprise, a regional or national health system, or across support for legislative and access control requirements
national borders and (3) support interoperability between that would be applicable to all forms of EHR. The basic-
software from different vendors. generic EHR definition is supplemented by the detailed
There are two types of interoperability that are definition which is stated in 1 and 2 below:
relevant in this context. The ISO Technical Report (ISO 1. The ability to share patient health information
TC 215, ISO/TR 20514, 2005) defines these as Functional between authorized users of the EHR.
interoperability and Semantic interoperability. Functional 2. The ability to supporting continuing, efficient
interoperability deals with the exchange of information and quality integrated health care.
between two or more systems in a format that is readable According to (ISO/TR 20514, 2005), the sharing of
by humans. Semantic interoperability deals with the EHR information can take place at three different levels:
exchange of information between systems in a format that LEVEL1 is between different clinical disciplines or other
is computer processable by the receiving system. We users, who could be using the same application but require
could not find within the Technical Report explicitly listed different or ad hoc organization of EHRs. LEVEL2 is
prerequisites for achieving Semantic Interoperability. between different applications at a single EHR node. (An
Thus we have to refer to the conference paper (Schloeffel EHR node is a physical location where EHRs are stored
P., 2004) which states that there are four prerequisites that and maintained.) LEVEL3 is across different EHR nodes.
need to be fulfilled in order to achieve semantic When EHRs are capable of being shared at LEVEL3
interoperability: a) a standardized EHR Reference Model. then the EHRs are called Integrated Care EHRs (ICEHR).
This deals with the semantics of EHR information
ISO/TS 18308. Requirements for an EHR Reference
structures; b) a standardized service interface. This deals
Architecture.
with the semantics of interfaces between EHR and other
services: c) a standardized set of domain-specific concept This is a new standard that gives requirements for the
models. This deals with archetypes and templates for architecture of EHR systems and not the specification for
different domain concepts: d) standardized terminologies. such architectures (ISO TC 215, ISO/TS 18308, 2004). It
This defines the language that is used in archetypes. (The specifies the assembling and collating of clinical and
first two prerequisites also apply to functional technical requirements for EHR architecture to support
interoperability.) usage, sharing and exchanging of EHRs across different
countries, different health sectors and different models of
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANISATION healthcare delivery. The main users of this standard will
be developers of EHR architecture standards such as CEN
ISO’s Technical Committee ISO/TC 215, which deals
EN13606 and other reference architectures such as
with Health Informatics, is an international standards
openEHR (Eichelberg et el, 2005), (openEHR).
body, whose aim is to achieve compatibility and
interoperability between independent healthcare systems. ISO TR 18307 – Interoperability and Compatibility in
This is a relatively new standards body, which has Messaging and Communication Standards.
produced a set of new standards as well as using other
This standard describes the main requirements for
international standards from HL7, DICOM and CEN as
achieving interoperability and compatibility in trusted
the basis for their standards. ISO has already published 37
health information interchange between software
standards relating to different aspects in the field of
applications and systems in healthcare. The standard
medical informatics across 22 countries, including the
specifies the interoperability needs of the healthcare
UK. The standards produced by ISO/TC 215 are being
community for the subject of care, the healthcare
observed in 20 countries including Central America,
professional, the healthcare provider organization, its
Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
business units and the incorporated delivery network. It
The following three sub-sections will introduce three
also provides a criterion for developers and implementers
standards – ISO/TR 20514, ISO/TS 18308 and ISO/TR
of standards for messaging and communication in the
18307 which are concerned with the EHR interoperability.
healthcare domain. It lays down the foundation for the
ISO/TR 20514 - EHR Definition, Scope and Context. health information interchange to be as trustful as possible
(ISO TR 18307).
ISO/TR 20514 is a standard that defines the content
of the EHR, its structure and the context in which the
CEN
EHR is used. It also gives definitions of the terminology
used. ISO/TR 20514 defines the EHR structure through CEN’s Technical Committee CEN/TC 251 deals with
“basic-generic EHR” (ISO TC 215, ISO/TR 20514, 2005). the production of Standards in Health Informatics. It has
Thus, it allows the broadest applicability of the given produced the only comprehensive EHR interoperability
EHR structure to a wide range of existing and future types standard in the world called CEN 13606.
of EHRs and EHR systems. This, in turn, provides

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CEN13606 The Extract package defines the EHR_EXTRACT
class in an EHR structure, which is the root directory of
CEN 13606 has been previously published as a pre-
the Reference Model, and data structures for EHR content.
standard named ENV 13606 in 1999 (Kalra and Ingram,
The Demographics package provides a data set of
2006). It was not as successfully implemented as
specific entities, which are defined only once and then
expected due to various weaknesses, such as the outdated
used within the EHR_EXTRACT by the means of
architectural concepts of applications that support EHRs,
dedicated class instance identifiers. The whole purpose of
that were recommended by the standard (Eichelberg et el,
this package is to give a sufficient description of each
2005). In 2001, CEN/TC updated ENV13606 and
entity within an EHR system for human interpretation and
adopted the openEHR “archetype methodology” defined
to allow the identification of entities between
by the openEHR Foundation to make it a full European
EHR_Recepient and its own demographic server. We do
Standard EHR (Schloeffel P., 2004), (The OpenEHR
not summarize what Support and Primitives packages
Foundation). The result of this work is in CEN
contain because it was very difficult to follow the text
prEN13606. CEN prEN13606 has been adopted by 48
available in the standard.
countries as at 2007.
CEN EN13606 is a five-part standard as defined in Part two - Archetype Interchange Specification
prEN13606-1:2006 (CEN/TC 251, 2006) and consists of a
The wide-scale sharing of EHR records and their
Reference Model, an Archetype Interchange
meaningful analysis across distributed computing sites
Specification, a Reference Archetypes and Term Lists,
requires that the equivalent clinical information is
Security Features, and Exchange Models.
represented consistently, i.e. when the clinical data
The standard defines an architecture for
structures are communicated via the Reference Model, it
communicating part or all of the EHRs of a single patient,
should have the same semantic meaning. This addresses
making sure that (i) the original clinical meaning intended
the semantic and schematic heterogeneities in the
by the author of the record is preserved and (ii) the
repositories of EHR systems.
confidentiality of the data as intended by the author and
Archetypes introduced in this part have the role of
the patient is not breached. It does not specify the internal
addressing the challenges of semantic interoperability.
structure or database design/schema of the EHR.
EHR systems should be able to cater for any
Part One - The Reference Model. professionals, specialities or services within healthcare
systems, despite the fact that healthcare domains are
The Reference Model defines the generic building
different, complex and prone to frequent changes. Thus
blocks of the EHR by representing the global
the Reference Model represents the generic properties of
characteristics of health record components. It shows how
EHR information, and Archetypes (i.e. meta-data) define
they are aggregated, and how the context information
patterns for the specific characteristics of the clinical data
within the record’s components meets ethical, legal and
that represent the requirements of each particular
provenance requirements. In order to support
profession, speciality or service. Archetype instances
communication between various EHR systems, the
conform to a formal model available at Archetype Model
standard recommends archetypes, i.e. the use of meta-data
prEN13606-2:2005(E)6. Archetypes may also be used
(Frankel, 2006), but they are not mandatory. The
within EHR systems to manage the EHR data, which
archetypes are “definitions of prescribed combination of
belong to a certain data repository. It is assumed that the
the building-block classes defined in the Reference Model
original EHR data, if not already archetyped, may be
for particular clinical domains or organizations”
mapped to a set of archetypes, if needed, when generating
(CEN/TC 251, 2006).
the construct, i.e. EHR_EXTRACT (prEN 13606-2)
This standard may also be used for communication
Archetype Repositories contain many archetypes that
between an EHR system and repositories found in clinical
that have been derived from different sources of EHRs.
applications, or between middleware components
Thus despite the fact that different sources of clinical data
responsible for accessing or providing EHR data.
inputs, and data types detectable in such inputs, have been
Furthermore, the standard may be applied for the
identified, the formats in which these clinical data
communication of individual patient records (i.e. a single
structures are represented remain interoperable across a
identifiable subject) to an EHR system or a centralized
variety of EHR systems. Consequently, the use of
EHR data repository. Anonymization or aggregation of
standardized archetypes ensures an interoperable way of
individual patient records within EHR systems are not the
representing and sharing the specification of archetypes,
focus of this standard.
in support of keeping EHRs consistent and the semantic
The Reference Model consists of four packages –
interoperability of shared EHRs.
Extract, Demographics, Support and Primitive. (CEN/TC
Communicating Archetypes specifies requirements
251, prEN13606-1:2006).
for a comprehensive and interoperable archetype
representation, and defines the Object Distributed

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Processing (ODP) Information Viewpoint representation world of healthcare systems creates the need for data to
for the Archetype Model. It also gives an optional flow amongst various systems. This will be initiated by a
archetype interchange format called Archetype Definition trigger, which in the HL7 standard is equal to a Trigger
Language (ADL). Archetypes expressed in ADL will be Event (Eichelberg et al., 2005). When an event occurs in
compatible with HL7 Refined Message Information an HL7 compliant system a message is passed to the
Models (R-MIMs) and Common Message Element Types requesting application as EDA (Electronic Data
(CMETs) (Garde, 2007). This part (Communicating Interchange) by gathering the relevant data from the
Archetypes) of the standard doesn’t require that EHR applications (Ericson, 2004).
models are archetype prEN 13606-2:2005 compliant. The HL7 standard supports two message protocols:
However it does require that these archetypes are capable Version2 and Version3.
of being mapped to the Archetype Model in order to
HL7 Version2
support EHR communication and interoperability within
an EHR-sharing community. The most widely used HL7 Version2 protocol is
limited to the exchange of messages between medical
Part three - Reference Archetypes and Term Lists
information systems. It was not developed following any
This part specifies data objects for describing rules methodology to ensure that all parts of the standard are
for distribution or the sharing of EHRs in whole or in part developed consistently. HL7 Version2 does not support
by establishing general principles for the interaction of interoperability between healthcare applications very
EHRs with other components and mechanisms within an successfully. The main reason for this is the lack of a
EHR application. The standard also establishes ways of precisely defined underlying information model structure,
creating information with associated security attributes plus definitions for many data fields are vague and
(ANSI, 2006). overloaded with optional data fields (Eichelberg et el,
2005). However, by not defining a detailed information
Part four: Security Requirements and Distribution
model, the HL7 version2 standard allows greater
rules
flexibility, which immediately triggers the problem of
This part addresses aspects of data safety and security interoperability. Applications participating in
in the context of exchanging patient related medical communication using HL7 version2 must therefore have
information. It does this by specifying security mutual agreements to achieve interoperability.
requirements and mechanisms for managing access-rights
HL7 Version3
to components of an EHR of a patient. It also defines
mechanisms for auditing accesses to an EHR. The HL7 Version3 is an improvement from the previous
implementation and usability of the security functions of Version2 by being more focused on specific contexts,
an EHR system is supported through the provision of terminology, models and conceptual definitions and
easily implementable but course-grained general access relationships. Its underlying information model, called
policies, as well as mechanisms for defining fine-grained, the Reference Information Model (RIM), is object-
individual access policies (ANSI, 2005). oriented and the proposal for the Clinical Document
Architecture (CDA) for exchanging clinical documents
Part five: Exchange Models
across healthcare systems uses Extensible Markup
This part describes a set of models that form the basis Language (XML) to encode the documents (HL7 2.5,
of message-based or service-based communication. Parts 2000) (InterfaceWare). Thus the CDA defines the
four has already passed approval by CEN but the final structure and semantics of medical documents that are to
draft is yet to be produced and this part has temporarily be exchanged and CDA documents use data types
been put on hold. specified in the HL7 RIM.
The CDA consists of 3 levels (HL7 CDA). Each of
HL7 them takes the mark up of the previous level and adds
more mark up to compose a clinical document. However,
The term HL7 is used both: i) as a name for the this does not change the clinical content of the document
organization and ii) as a set of messaging standards (HL7 CDA Release 1.0, 2000)(HL7 Standards).
(Version 2.x and Version 3.x). The HL7 organization Level1 consists of a Coded Header and a Body. The
focuses on the interface requirements that are needed by Coded Header defines the semantics of each entry in the
the entire health care organization, when communicating document. The Body contains clinical data in an
healthcare data within or outside its healthcare systems. unstructured test format or it can consist of nested data
HL7 standards are the most successful messaging such as paragraphs, lists and tables. Level2 models
standards in the healthcare industry. It is a protocol that observations and instructions within each heading, thus
consists of standardized grammar and vocabulary. HL7 making it possible to constrain the structure and content of
standards work by assuming that an event in the real the document through templates. This increases

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interoperability by using agreed templates between to archive and to communicate, and to digitally sign
heterogeneous healthcare systems. Level3 provides structured reports without making significant changes to
completely structured documents where each element of the existing systems.
the document is adequately coded for machine processing. To improve interoperability in practice, DICOM
The CDA HL7 is not strictly an EHR standard, but Structured Reporting specifies a document structure along
forms its sub-component, that has already been with its class definitions and constraints for different
harmonized with the equivalent structure in CEN13606 medical applications. It defines templates that need to be
and openEHR (HL7 EHR 2004). Thus HL7 and CEN co- used for this purpose. The collection of the standard
operate and the current areas of harmonization include templates, context groups and codes is called the DICOM
data types from (a) HL7 Templates (b) HL7 CDA, (c) Content Mapping Resource.
CEN13606 Reference Models, and (d) CEN/openEHR It is important to note that DICOM does not specify
archetypes (Schloeffel P., 2004). how a Structured Reporting Document is rendered by an
application, as this is regarded to be out of the scope of
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
the standard (Eichelberg et el, 2005).
(DICOM)
DICOM is the de facto standard for medical image HARMONIZATION BETWEEN STANDARDS
communication. It uses binary encoding with hierarchical
Harmonization between standards and in some cases
lists of data elements identified by numerical tags and a
their convergence, is very important for the future
complex DICOM-specific application level network
interoperability of health information systems within and
protocol (DICOM, 2007). There are two DICOM-based
between countries. As we have already mentioned in the
EHR standards available:
previous section, current areas of harmonization include
1. Web Access to DICOM Persistent Objects (WADO)
data types: the HL7CDA and CEN 13606 Reference
2. DICOM Structured Reporting.
Models and CEN/openEHR archetypes with HL7
WADO is a cooperative standard between DICOM
Templates. The OpenEHR Reference Model uses the
(DICOM Supplement 85 2004) and ISO (ISO 17432
CEN13606 Reference Model, which in turn is used in
2004). This standard was created to enable and maintain
HL7CDA. So, it is quite visible that some harmonization
international standards for the communication of
has already taking place. There are also sporadic reports
biomedical diagnostic and therapeutic information in
across EU countries that highlight their individual
disciplines that use digital images and associated data.
attempts to comply with CEN initiatives, thus
WADO defines a Web based service that can be used to
recommending harmonization locally (SIST). A detailed
retrieve persistent objects via HTTP or HTTPS from a
rationale for the harmonization of EHR standards is
Web server.
available in the white paper about the HL7 EHR System
The Web client has to specify the DICOM object that
Functional Model (HL7, 2004).
has to be retrieved. This will be done through unique
identifiers available at the instance level of the DICOM
information model. The web client may also request a CONCLUSION
specific data type to be sent via the web server. The web It was very difficult to prepare an overview of EHR
server will convert the existing DICOM object into a interoperability standards that could have provided better
readily presentable format to be sent. The DICOM object reading than this paper offers. It was also extremely
can also be made anonymous before it is sent. This is a challenging to extract information that can be called ‘an
very useful feature for teaching purposes and clinical overview of standards’ from such a variety of sources,
studies. WADO doesn’t support query mechanisms. where almost none of them are written for wider
A WADO server will return a DICOM Structured healthcare or computing research communities. There are
Reporting Document to the client in the HTML format if a few published papers, which have helped us to interpret
requested. If not, the format will be dependent on the the texts found in published standards correctly and which
current implementation of the server. WADO uses a have been crucial to understanding a variety of issues
simple approach for accessing particular DICOM objects covered in these standards. Thus any organizations,
without requiring the client to be DICOM compatible. It healthcare institutions or software developers willing to
is very easy to implement applications supporting WADO include these standards in order to achieve the
as they can be implemented by using readily available interoperability of EHR systems, will face the same
components such as Web browsers, servers and DICOM difficulties as we have had in collecting relevant material
viewers (Eichelberg et el, 2005). and understanding how to apply it. One of the solutions is
DICOM Structured Reporting is a general model for to employ professionals who can interpret the standards so
encoding medical reports in a structured way. This is that they can be understood by software developers and
done using DICOM’s tag-based format. It allows for healthcare professionals.
current DICOM infrastructure network services to be used

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Having said that, HL7 version3 can be considered to
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be the foundation of future integrated health care
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There is definitely a space for integration between various
Part 2: Archetypes”.
healthcare systems and applications, which can be
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It is not possible to favor one standard over the
PS3.1. National Electrical Manufacturers Association,
other. They are all quite similar in what they cover,
Virginia, USA
however at different stages of their evolution. There will
DICOM, 2007, “Part 2: Conformance”, PS 3.2 – 2007,
always be organizations that will be using incompatible
National Electrical Manufacturers Association,
EHR standards. The only solution will be when full
Virginia, USA
semantic interoperability is reached.
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