- Business Development
- Patient Reported Outcomes
- Clinical Trials
- Data Capture & Management
- Disease Strategy
- Drug Delivery
- eHealthcare
- Formulation
- Hit-to-Lead
- Partnering & Outsourcing
- Pharmacovigilance
- Preclinical
- Project & Risk Management
- Targets
- Technology Focus
- Translational & Personalized Medicine
- Trial Design & Protocols
- Virtual R&D
Health Information Management Systems Society Interoperability Showcase™—Breaking Barriers to Interoperable Healthcare
iHealth Connections, 2011;1(2):82–3
Please 
Abstract
In a world where electronic medical record systems are becoming commonplace, the industry is now turning to interoperability as the next great improvement in healthcare technology. Health information exchanges are popping up all over the world. The Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Interoperability Showcase™, in collaboration with Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), is seeking to provide HIMSS conference and exhibition attendees with an interactive environment to ‘kick the tires’ of the latest in interoperable clinical information systems.
Disclosure
The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.
Correspondence:
svance@himss.org
Never underestimate the impact that health information exchange practices have on the quality of clinical care. Clinicians rely on complete and accurate data in order to make decisions about patient care. Without a solid system for health information exchange in place between facilities, it is impossible to ensure that a clinician has the entire clinical picture. Without complete historical information on a patient, treatment plans are often askew, which can mean suboptimal, sometimes even lethal, outcomes.
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is breaking barriers to interoperable health information exchange by creating non-competitive environments where health information technology (HIT) vendors can come together to test their clinical information systems with other HIT systems from all over the world, and then demonstrate the interoperability of these systems for key stakeholders. HIMSS accomplishes this in two ways: by sponsoring Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) and by hosting Interoperability Showcasesâ„¢ around the world.
Adoption of Standards-based Interoperability
HIMSS, together with the Radiological Society of North America, is a sponsor of IHE. The mission of IHE is to drive the adoption of standards-based interoperability to improve patient care through innovation, standards profiling, testing, education, and collaboration. IHE uses an open, consensus-based process to engage users, providers, and suppliers of HIT solutions to identify and solve interoperability problems in a manner that respects the privacy of personal health information. The organization’s proven process fosters innovation and provides guidance for the consistent implementation of standards in order to relieve the public burden created by the inaccessibility and inconsistency of health information, improve quality outcomes, and enhance the performance of healthcare systems.
IHE has published a large body of detailed specifications that are being implemented globally by healthcare providers and regional health information exchanges to enable standards-based, safe, secure, and efficient health information exchange. These specifications are best practices known as IHE profiles.
