News
HL7 and IHE Renew Associate Charter Agreement
Increased collaboration to support global adoption of healthcare standards will be highlighted at this year’s HIMSS 2009 IHE Interoperability Showcase and is key component of updated agreement
Chicago, IL., U.S. – April 5, 2009 – Health Level Seven® Inc. (HL7®), the leading authority for global healthcare IT standards, and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), today announced the renewal of their associate charter agreement, which was initiated in 2005. A key objective of the new agreement is to enhance the collaboration between the two groups by increasing cooperation to avoid conflict and duplication of effort, as well as engaging in activities that support and encourage the global adoption of healthcare standards.
As part of this collaborative relationship, HL7 will once again participate in this year’s HIMSS Interoperability Showcase at the 2009 Annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference & Exhibition from April 4-8, 2009 in Chicago, Ill. The Interoperability Showcase will feature cutting-edge technology and standards in an interactive environment using clinical scenarios that simulate how health information is passed among care providers. Clinical scenarios will be enabled by the standards-based IHE framework and HL7 standards are the cornerstone of many of these scenarios.
The following HL7 standards are part of the Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS 2009:
IHE IT Infrastructure Domain (ITI)
- IHE ATNA (HITSP T15) - HL7 (Framework for Audit Messages),
- IHE PIX (HITSP TP22) - HL7 Version 2.3.1 and HL7 Version 2.5 ADT
- IHE PDQ (HITSP T23)- HL7 Version 2.5 ADT
- IHE PIX/PDQ V3 - HL7 Version 3 Patient Administration Domain
- IHE PWP (HITSP T64) - HL7 Version 2.5, Chapter 2 – Control
- IHE XDS (HITSP TP13), BPPC (HITSP TP30), XDS-SD (HITSP C62) - HL7 Clinical Document Architecture Release 2
IHE Patient Care Coordination Domain (PCC)
- QED (HITSP TP21) - HL7 Version 3 Care Record DSTU and HL7 Version 3 Care Record Query DSTU, as well as the HL7 Continuity of Care Document
- XPHR (HITSP C32), XDS-MS (HITSP C48, C38), IC (HITSP C78), APR, EDR (HITSP C48) HL7 Clinical Document Architecture Release 2.0, HL7 Continuity of Care Document
- APR HL7 History and Physical Notes DSTU
IHE Radiology Domain (RAD )
- SWF and Others HL7 Version 2.3.1 ADT, ORM, ORR
IHE Laboratory Domain (LAB)
- XD-LAB (HITSP C37) -- HL7 Clinical Document Architecture Release 2.0
IHE Quality, Research, and Public Health Domain (QRPH)
- CRD – HL7 Clinical Document Architecture Release 2.0, HL7 Continuity of Care Document, Implementation Guide for CDA Release 2 – Level 1 and 2 – Care Record Summary , ASTM/HL7 Continuity of Care Document
HITSP
- HITSP T81 - HL7 Context Aware Information Retrieval (InfoButton)
- HITSP C76 - HL7 Clinical Document Architecture Release 2.0, HL7 Continuity of Care Document, Implementation Guide for CDA Release 2 – Level 1 and 2 – Care Record Summary , ASTM/HL7 Continuity of Care Document
- HITSP C72 – HL7 2.3.1 Unsolicited Vaccination Record Update
“HL7 and IHE have enjoyed a history of collaboration,” said Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, and CEO of HL7, “and this year’s Interoperability Showcase demonstrates how HL7 standards can be used in real-life setting to provide better healthcare and proves that interoperability can happen in our lifetime. The renewal of this agreement ensures that HL7 standards and IHE’s implementation profiles are tightly coordinated which will facilitate further strides in interoperability as we rise to the challenge of providing online electronic health records for all Americans by 2014, as outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvest Act.” Building on this collaborative relationship, HL7’s Chief Executive Officer, Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD now serves on the IHE International Board of Directors. As part of the newly updated agreement, HL7 has also become an active member of IHE International.”
To further support the efforts of the agreement, each of HL7’s 30 plus affiliate organizations may individually become members of national IHE organizations, called IHE Deployment Committees, and develop realm-specific Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that reference the overarching HL7/IHE associate agreement. Additionally, HL7 affiliate members may represent HL7 on IHE International Committees. The new agreement also calls for standards to be developed with a concomitant plan for maintenance.
A number of other points in the agreement remain unchanged or introduce non-substantive changes from the initial 2005 agreement. Among those points are IHE’s commitment to use HL7 standards as appropriate in their profile development, particularly those standards based on the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM); both organizations’ commitment to review and comment on each others’ work and provide timely input during published comment periods; and inclusion of HL7 in IHE activities where HL7 standards overlap with other standards development organizations.
“Many of us involved in healthcare standards wear numerous hats in standards related organizations. IHE and HL7 are very fortunate to have a great deal of cross-membership enhancing our collaborations, and those members long ago realized that the success of one benefits the other. The renewal of the memorandum of understanding between IHE and HL7 ratifies the collaboration that their members have already enjoyed for many years,” said Lisa Spellman, MBA, CPHIMS, director of IHE, HIMSS.
About IHE
IHE (www.ihe.net) is a global initiative, now in its tenth year, that creates the framework for passing vital health information seamlessly – from application to application, system to system, and setting to setting – across multiple healthcare enterprises. IHE brings together health information technology stakeholders to implement standards for communicating patient information efficiently throughout and among healthcare enterprises by developing a framework of interoperability. Because of its proven process of collaboration, demonstration and real world implementation of interoperable solutions, IHE is in a unique position to significantly accelerate the process for defining, testing, and implementing standards-based interoperability among electronic health record systems.
About HL7
Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven, Inc. (www.HL7.org) is a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards development organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. HL7’s more than 2,000 members represent approximately 500 corporate members, which include more than 90 percent of the information systems vendors serving healthcare.
HL7’s endeavors are sponsored, in part, by the support of its benefactors: Accenture; Booz Allen Hamilton; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Duke Translational Medicine Institute (DTMI); Eclipsys Corporation; Eli Lilly & Company; Epic Systems Corporation; the Food and Drug Administration; GE Healthcare Information Technologies; GlaxoSmithKline; IBM; Intel Corporation; InterSystems Corporation; Kaiser Permanente; Lockheed Martin; McKesson Provider Technologies; Microsoft Corporation; NHS Connecting for Health; NICTIZ National Healthcare; Novartis; Oracle Corporation; Partners HealthCare System, Inc.; Pfizer, Inc.; Philips Healthcare; QuadraMed Corporation; Quest Diagnostics Inc.; Sanofi-aventis R&D; Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services; St. Jude Medical; Sunquest Information Systems; Thomson Reuters; the US Department of Defense, Military Health System; and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Numerous HL7 Affiliates have been established around the globe including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and Uruguay.
Please be sure to visit HL7 and IHE at the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase at Booth 7750.
Please also visit the HL7 exhibit at Booth 2427.
HL7 Media Contact: Andrea Ribick, HL7, +1 (734) 677-7777 or andrea@HL7.org
HIMSS Media Contact: Joyce Lofstrom, HIMSS, +1 (312) 915-9237 or jlofstrom@himss.org
