Facing the challenge: care to share

Interoperability of healthcare IT systems

Published: 10/23

VIENNA, AUSTRIA - (HealthTech Wire) - Harm-Jan Wessels has been closely involved with the development of healthcare IT products and systems for the last two decades. Yet he still finds himself wondering what is hindering the universal, secure access to patient health information. “We can easily receive money from ATMs all over the globe, but we are lost when we end up as a patient in a hospital abroad!”

The challenge is widely recognised; at the European level the need for efficient access to patient-centric, healthcare information is rapidly increasing. The European Commission published its draft Recommendation on eHealth Interoperability this July. The recommendation identifies a current lack of interoperability among systems and services, hindering wider implementation of the European Union’s eHealth applications, including the Electronic Health Record (EHR).

The key to further development of the EHR is thus interoperability. As referenced by the Recommendation, interoperability means “the ability of information and communication technology (ICT) systems and of the business processes they support to exchange data and to enable the sharing of information and knowledge”.

Sharing requires consent and cooperation

How can interoperability be achieved? According to Wessels, it means connecting systems and exchanging data in a meaningful format, ideally supporting semantic interoperability, so that receiving systems actually understand the data.

“Having said that, I believe that the prime inhibitor to progress is in allowing access to information,” says Wessels. “We need to come to the realisation that no progress can be made unless we share the critical elements of healthcare information. Sharing requires consent and cooperation: first-and foremost from the patient, but – equally important – from the healthcare professional.”

To build a strong case for sharing information, Wessels believes the initial focus should be on the healthcare professional. “While quality of care and efficiency in care processes may be admirable goals, in my opinion the key driver for the further implementation of information systems in healthcare is saving time. More specifically, it is saving time for the healthcare professional, who is under ever increasing pressure to treat more patients in less time. To this end, we need to focus on the work process and have the care provider tell us where we can improve the workflow – and thus save time.”

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)

The global Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative is doing just this. By using a proven methodology and process cycle, it focuses on global interoperability problems that are recognised by care providers worldwide. The care providers are in the driving seat to point out the critical interoperability gaps in their current way of working, describing them in the form of clinically relevant use cases.

Care providers and industry then develop solution frameworks, known as Integration Profiles, to solve the issues based on proven (healthcare) information standards. The Integration Profiles solutions are refined in a global review process, tested in large-scale connectivity testing events known as Connectathons, and demonstrated at major healthcare IT conferences.

At the 2007 World of Health IT Conference in Vienna, several companies and institutions will be presenting their commitment to IHE in the IHE Interoperability Showcase. In a live demonstration, they will show true interoperability based on IHE’s solution framework for sharing medical information. All this is based on clinical use cases, linking the demonstration to the challenges in daily clinical practice.

“With efforts like IHE’s commitment to interoperability, we can make progress and achieve the goal of the ‘eHealth ATM’”, summarises Wessels. “To get there, remember ‘care to share’ – and save time!”