Key features
Information standards in the health care sector are paramount in the standardization of medical care applications in the world. The aim of health Information Standards is to promote and support interoperability of health care systems globally increasing health care efficiency (Benson 14). The HL7V3 RIM, CDA, DICOM, Structured Reports, HIE, or IHE are some of the major health information standards that have been developed and used in the United States and the world at large. This report critically reviews the Integrating Health Enterprise (IHE) health care information standards by reviewing the application and issues with it.
The IHE was founded in 1997 by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and Health Care Information and Management System Society (Siemens 2). It entails achieving practical interoperability by the health care providers. The IHE enables standards interoperability and implements harmonized standard specifications referred to as the IHE profiles. It applies HL7 and DICOM standards to specific interoperability needs in medical care (IHEa 8).
The IHE technical framework integrates heterogeneous information systems that consist of vocabularies, which people use unequivocally. In addition, the framework contains common standard-based solutions that are used to exchange medical information (IHEa 4). The IHE framework is process-oriented. It refers to each process (problem or solution) and set of an integrated system’s capabilities – IHE integrated profile. The IHE profile is used to organize the process of addressing information that is patient-specific. In addition, it conveniently references the functionalities specified in the Technical Frameworks. For instance, version 5.5 of the IHE Radiology has 12 integrated profiles. These include Basic security, key image notes, consistent presentation images, evidence documents, simple images and numerical reports, access to radiology, presentation of grouped procedures, scheduled workflow, post-processing workflow, charge posting, reporting workflow, and patient information reconciliation (IHEa 8).
The technical framework identifies the product produced and manages the operational process in the enterprise. Radiology has an Image acquirer as a visualization modality actor, Order Filler as radiology information actor, and Order Placer as the health care system. Finally, the IHE framework uses standard-based interactions in the process. This integrates the information flow between different information systems to accomplish specific tasks.
Implementation Example in an organization
The Warren Hospital located in Philipsburg New Jersey has five radiologist staff in the hospital performing 100,000 and more procedures per year (IHEb par. 1). They utilize a wide range of modalities to acquire images. The hospital implementing the IHE scheduled workflow and patient information reconciliation integration profiles in Warren Hospital. In addition, they also utilize access to radiology image profiles in sharing “radiographic images the PACS system and other image viewing workstations” (IHEb par. 1). These IHE technical frameworks are utilized to provide and enhance efficiency in its radiological operations workflow. The hospital integrated RIS and PACS, Siemens Noviuos RIS, and INFINITT’s STARPACS for PACS respectively (IHEb par. 2). This integration was specified by the IHE. The system was implemented and had profound impacts such as web access of reports and images, the process of getting film copies were shortened and traffic for referring doctors was cut to less than 10 percent (IHEb par. 5)
Current issues
The IHE organized its first-ever IHE world summit in May 2013 that discussed the challenge of using digital care in advancing patient care. Twenty-two countries attended the summit (European Hospital par. 1). Key issues discussed were how interoperability would ensure the exchange of patient information in more effective ways. It was noted that systems that use the IHE technical frameworks and standard-based solutions are able to seamlessly exchange data (European Hospital par. 3). It is good to note that more nations, regions, and hospitals in the world today are using the IHE interoperability profiles and technical frameworks.
References
Benson, Tim. Principles of Health Interoperability Hl7 and Snomed. London: Springer, 2012. Print.
European Hospital. Health IT connects global as more nations integrate with ‘IHE Inside 2013. Web.
IHEa. “IHE Radiology (RAD) Technical Framework”. IHE Radiology Technical Framework 2013. Web.
IHEb. Warren Hospital – IHE 2013. Web.
Siemens. IHE – Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise 2013. Web.