HL7 and Healthcare Interoperability

Healthcare IT Definitions Released

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The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) recently released new definitions of certain healthcare IT terms. This project was completed for the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology; this office was created by the President on April 27, 2004 to promote the adoption of electronic health records by most Americans by 2014.

Outlined below are the definitions published by NAHIT. These healthcare IT definitions were published in the report entitled Defining Key Health Information Technology Terms (PDF).

• Electronic Medical Record: An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one healthcare organization.
• Electronic Health Record: An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one healthcare organization.
• Personal Health Record: An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be drawn from multiple sources while being managed, shared, and controlled by the individual.
• Health Information Exchange: The electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards.
• Health Information Organization: An organization that oversees and governs the exchange of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards.
• Regional Health Information Organization: A health information organization that brings together health care stakeholders within a defined geographic area and governs health information exchange among them for the purpose of improving health and care in that community.

The greatest understatement in the report is:  “Interoperability is the common thread running through health IT terms. Interoperability is the essential factor in building the infrastructure to create, transmit, store and manage health-related information.”

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