Global initiative strives to link health care information systems.

Abstract

274 July/August 2002 It is hard to imagine worldwide agreement on ways to link information systems while we struggle with local systems that can't communicate. However, this vision is coming closer to reality as a result of a joint initiative sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative promotes coordinated use of established communications standards such as HL7 and DICOM to address specific integration needs. Not even the most advanced institutions have begun to realize the full potential of computer systems to reduce medical errors, improve the efficiency of care providers, and enhance the overall quality of clinical care. To do so, health care demands a framework for information sharing that meets the needs of care providers as well as patients—and gains acceptance among the companies that build the systems they rely on. Standards provide the foundation for such a framework, but alone do not solve the problem. In any standard there may be gaps, options, and room for conflicting interpretations. No standard could map perfectly to the complex and ever-changing information domain of a health care enterprise. Filling the gap between standards and systems implementation has, until now, required expensive, site-specific interface development to integrate even standards-compliant systems. To close that gap, a process for building a detailed framework for the implementation of standards is needed. IHE provides that process. Clinicians, administrators, and other health care professionals are frustrated by computer systems that don't effectively share information. They envision a day when vital information can be passed seamlessly from system to system within and across departments and made available as needed at the point of care. The IHE initiative aims to make this vision a reality. IHE integration profiles organize the integration capabilities needed to address specific patient care needs. Integration profiles offer a convenient way for vendors and users to reference the functionality defined in the IHE Technical Framework without having to restate all of the detail. They describe clinical information and workflow needs and specify the functional units (actors), and transactions required to address them. Volunteer members of HIMSS and RSNA, including radiologists and other clinicians, health care executives, and information technology experts, play a key role in guiding the development of IHE and determining priorities for integration. Vendor representatives also collaborate in the process, which is making progress toward removing the obstacles to integration and optimal patient care. During the third year of the initiative, which commenced at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition this February in Atlanta, 33 companies representing 68 systems completed the testing process “Envision a day when vital information can be passed seamlessly from system to system within and across departments and made available as needed at the point of care.”