1. Introduction to Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Making Interoperability and Health Information Exchange Real - Today

2. What’s the problem?
The problem of interoperability requires implemented standards for cost effectiveness
There are plenty of standards, but
They are overlapping, disjointed or conflicting
They are not consistently applied
Real world uses require multiple standards in a coordinated manner
Lack of a consistent end-to-end approach leads to implementation paralysis!

3. What is Needed Engage all the stakeholders
Develop a consistent end-to-end workflow based on real world problems
Select appropriate interoperability standards, and provide explicit guidance for use
Establish a mechanism for testing and validating implementations
Promote standards-based integration in the marketplace
That’s “the IHE way!”

4. What is Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise?
A 12-year old worldwide public-private collaboration
Improves patient care and provider efficiency by harmonizing electronic health information exchange
Creates implementable standards-based specifications for interoperability use cases
Provides an implementation testing pathway to bring IHE-compliant products to market
What is IHE?
Optimal patient care requires efficient access to comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs). The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative accelerates the adoption of the information standards needed to support EHRs. More than 200 vendors have implemented and tested products based on IHE.
IHE improves patient care by harmonizing healthcare information exchange. IHE provides a common standards-based framework for seamlessly passing health information among care providers, enabling local, regional and national health information networks.

5. 15 national, regional, and international deployment organizations
Who is IHE?
~ 370 members:
55 healthcare professional organizations
15 government agencies; 7 standards organizations
45 provider, research and education organizations
250 HIT and consulting companies
12 technical domains
Sponsored by professional organizations
15 national, regional, and international deployment organizations
Ensure IHE is aligned with local interoperability projects

6. How does IHE work?
Clinicians and HIT professionals work together to identify key clinical interoperability issues
Jointly they define solutions called IHE profiles that harmonize the way standards are implemented in HIT products
HIT vendors implement IHE profiles in their systems and test them at annual Connectathon
HIT users specify IHE profiles in purchase tenders to achieve interoperability
IHE: A forum for agreeing on how to implement standards and processes for making it happen
Example #1: IHE provides a profile for information sharing Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing. This IHE Integration Profile facilitates the registration, distribution and access across health enterprises of patient electronic health records. Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS) is focused on providing a standards-based specification for managing the sharing of documents between any healthcare enterprise, ranging from a private physician office to a clinic to an acute care in-patient facility.
In today’s paradigm of healthcare data is documented at each patient encounter whether it be in an ER, Outpatient clinic, physician’s office, or another venue and is faxed or mailed to another venue if time is taken to copy a personal physician etc.
Example #2: IHE provides a profile for HIPAA compliance called Audit Trail and Node Authentication (ATNA) – you must comply with HIPAA regulations and must have audit trails to document compliance. Clinicians and IT professionals agree on the audit trails, the workflow, etc to enable them to maintain and document HIPAA compliance.

7. Proven Standards Adoption Process
Testing at Connectathons
Develop technical specifications
IHE
Demonstrations
Products with IHE
Identify available standards (e.g. HL7, DICOM, IETF, OASIS)
Timely access to information
Easy to integrate products
Document Use Case Requirements

8. IHE Organizational Structure
IHE International Board
IHE Europe
IHE North America
France
USA
Canada
IHE Asia-Oceania
Japan
Korea
Taiwan
Netherlands
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Italy
Germany
Norway
Regional Deployment
China
Switzerland
Turkey
Global Development
Radiology
Cardiology IT
Infrastructure
Patient Care
Coordination
Device
Laboratory
Anatomic
Pathology
Pharmacy
Radiation
Oncology
Dental
Endoscopy
Eye Care
ACC
ACP
HIMSS RSNA
JAHIS JIRA JRS
METI-MLHW
MEDIS-DC JAMI
GMSIH
SFR SFIL
ACCE
SIRM
BIR
EuroRec
COCIR
EAR-ECR
DRG
ESC
Professional Societies / Sponsors
Contributing &
Participating Vendors

9. National and Regional Projects Using IHE Profiles
Netherland
Amsterdam
Lower
Austria
Italy (Conto Corrente Salute)
UK CfH
(Radiology WF)
France DMP
Denmark (Funen)
Italy (Veneto)
Spain (Aragon)
Austria
Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia Canada Health Infoway
VITL-Vermont
Boston Medical Center - MA
Philadelphia HIE
CPHIC – Pennsylvania
CareSpark – TN & VA
South Africa
Malaysia
CHINA-MoH
Lab results sharing
JAPAN-Nagoya
Imaging Info Sharing
THINC- New York
NCHICA – N. Carolina
CHINA-Shanghai
Imaging Info Sharing 9 9

10. IHE and “Meaningful Use”
IHE is a formal partner in the “Standards and Interoperability Framework” Harmonization Project of the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT
IHE Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS) profiles are the basis for Health Information Exchanges, and for the DIRECT Project (secure healthcare )
IHE Patient Care Coordination Profiles are key parts of the forthcoming 2013 and 2015 requirements
IHE Request Form for Data Capture supports a standard approach to public health and quality reporting

11. Who benefits from IHE’s work?
Patients
Enhance care’s quality, safety, efficiency & effectiveness
Clinicians
Improve workflow & information reporting
Fewer error opportunities; less repeated work
Vendors and Consultants
Satisfy customers’ interoperability demands
Decreased cost & complexity of installation & management
Standards Organizations
Rapid feedback to address real-world issues
Establishment of critical mass and widespread adoption
Government
Reduced costs of implementing HIEs
Facilitates public health and quality measures
Government – reducing the cost of implementing healthcare systems

12. As a User or Vendor Committee Member
How to Participate
As a User or Vendor Committee Member
Become a member of a Domain’s Planning or Technical Committees
As a User, Consultant or Vendor Interested Observer
Provide Public Comments on Technical Framework Supplements
Attend Demonstrations, Educational Events and Workshops

13. Resources
Technical Frameworks
Connectathon Results
Product Registry
Domain Information
Member Organizations
and more . . .

14. Working Together to Deliver Interoperable Health Information Systems
Providers and Vendors
Working Together to Deliver
Interoperable Health Information Systems
in the Enterprise
and Across Care Settings