Cardiology

IHE Cardiology addresses information sharing, workflow and patient care in cardiology, including electrophysiology and nuclear medicine.

IHE Cardiology is sponsored by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and manages the Cardiology Profiles and the Cardiology Technical Framework.

There are two committees:

• the Cardiology Planning Committee, and the Cardiology Technical Committee.

NOTICE : THE IHE CARDIOLOGY DOMAIN IS NOW IN THE PROCESS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT

The American College of Cardiology submitted a proposal for a reconstituted IHE Cardiology Domain to the IHE International Board on March 12, 2009. There is a 45-day comment period before the domain can be formally established.

An organizational meeting was held on March 28, prior to the ACC Scientific Sessions, that was well-attended by ACC members and the vendor community. There are still some outstanding questions as to staffing and funding to be resolved. It is expected that several cardiology specialty societies will join in the domain sponsorship.

Background

Cardiology was the third domain established in IHE, but in March 2008 the ACC, the sponsor of the domain, decided to discontinue its funding and staff support for 2008. Under the terms of IHE Governance, without vendor-independent sponsorship the IHE Cardiology domain went into a dormant state effective April 1, 2008.

Since that time, the ACC (which operates through a committee structure) has established an IT Committee which is now the "home" of IHE related activities. The ACC Board of Trustees approved funding for IHE Cardiology for the 2009 fiscal year.

What happens next

In conjunction with the formal approval of the Cardiology Domain by the IHE International Board, there will be a call for participation in the Planning and Technical Committees. Because of the desire to closely align domain work with the priorities of the ACC IT Committee, and due to the changing healthcare interoperability environment under the policies of the Obama administration, the Planning Committee will solicit a new set of profile proposals and reprioritize the domain roadmap.

Existing IHE Cardiology Supplements left in Trial Implementation status during the domain dormancy will be evaluated by the Technical Committee when it reconvenes. Those deemed ready for Final Text will be moved forward to that status; the others will remain as Trial Implementation for the 2010 Connectathons.

The Implantable Devices (Cardiac) Observations (IDCO) profile, which was almost ready for Trial Implementation, will be moved forward to a Trial Implementation version for the 2010 Connectathons. As the timing for reconvening the IHE Cardiology Technical Committee is uncertain, this work will be done under the auspices of the IHE Patient Care Device Technical Committee.

FAQs from the period of dormancy

Q1 - What does this mean for IHE in Cardiology?

A1 - It means that work on all new profiles is stopped. This includes the current proposals for development in 2007-2008 (see below), and work on moving the current Trial Implementation profiles forward to Final Text status. The domain membership can, in principle, engage in maintenance work on existing (trial implementation, and approved final text) profiles. Work is ongoing to see what the level of interest in this is and how the meeting management and infrastructure to support this can be organized.

Customers can (and should) still demand existing IHE Integration Profiles in their RFPs, and vendors will continue to work on bringing these to market and supporting them. In addition to the Cardiology Domain profiles, many profiles from the IT Infrastructure, Patient Care Coordination, and Radiology domains are also applicable to the cardiology environment.

Note that under the new IHE Governance structure, the management of Connectathons and demonstrations is the responsibility of the national and regional IHE deployment organizations (not the technical Domains). Therefore, the existing IHE Cardiology Profiles will continue to be tested and demonstrated.

Q2 - Is this decision final?

A2 - Things can always change, but until a formal sponsor can be found the Domain will remain dormant. Former Members of the IHE Cardiology Planning and Technical Comittees are continuing to pursue support alternatives in a private capacity. If we are successful in securing IHE Board-approved domain sponsorship, then we are committed to reinstating the Domain and continuing to work on Interoperability within Cardiology via the IHE.

Q3 - In the absence of the IHE-cardiology Domain, how will interoperability in cardiology proceed?

A3 - Interoperability in cardiology can and should proceed using the standards-based approach encouraged by IHE:

• Use the existing IHE Cardiology Profiles
• Use Profiles from other IHE Domains, particularly IT Infrastructure, Patient Care Coordination, Radiology, and the new Quality domain.
• Use DICOM and HL7 under local (site negotiated) implementation guides or agreements

Q4 - How will I know if things change?

A4 - Check back on this wiki (which is being kindly hosted by HIMSS and RSNA).

Q5 - What can I do to help?

A5 - Please use your influence to inform the cardiology professional bodies of the situation, and encourage them to provide support for IHE Cardiology. Please contact any of the former IHE Cardiology co-chairs with ideas or opportunities to get the domain reinstated.

Timeline : 2007-2008 Development Cycle

Timeframe	Activity	Scheduled	Location
2007
July	Submit Brief Profile Proposals to Planning Committee (PC)	Aug 13	E-mail
July	PC Selects "Short List" of Profiles	<TBA>	T-Con
Aug.	PC Drafts Detailed Proposals for "Short List" Profiles	Sept 7	E-mail
Aug.	TC Completes technical review of "Short List" Profiles	Sept. 11-12	TCON
Sept.	PC Selects Final Profiles	Oct 24	T-con
2008
Mar.	Profile development kickoff meeting (TC Meeting)	Mar 4-5	MKE - Mortara
Mar/Apr/May	Profile development: finalize supplements for public comment (TC)	Weekly Webex t-conns: Mondays 10am CDT, Mar 17 through May 26	Chicago
June	TC Face-to-Face - Prepare Supplements for Public	June 4-5	MKE
June	Publication of Public Comment Supplements	June 9	www.ihe.net
June	Deadline for submission of public comments of profile supplements	June 27	RSNA forums
July	Reconciliation of public comments received (TC Webex)	July 8-9	ihe.webex.com
July	Publication of Trial Implementation Supplements	July 14	www.ihe.net
July	Publication of Final Text Technical Framework (if appropriate)	July 14	www.ihe.net
2009
Feb	Test implementations at Connectathon		Chicago

See also the Cardiology 2006-2007 Development Cycle

Roadmap

This document outlines goals and plans over the next 5 years.

Recent Activity

The Planning Committee is collecting Proposals for the 2007-2008 Cycle. See Above.

The Technical Committee has published an additional Public Comment supplement from the 2006-2007 Cycle. (Comments are due by July 16, 2007)

• Implantable Device Cardiac Observations

The Technical Committee has published Trial Implementation supplements from the 2006-2007 Cycle.

• Displayable Reports
• Evidence Documents for Stress Testing
• Evidence Documents for CT/MR Angiography

Current Activity

Details for the 2007-08 IHE cycle are maintained at: Cardiology_Technical_Committee#Current_Activities

Profile Selection

These Brief Profile Proposals were submitted for the 2007-08 Development Cycle; see ftp://ftp.ihe.net/Cardio/Year5-2008/Profile_Proposals/IHE-Card_Y5_Proposed_Profile_Review_Matrix_20071018.doc:

• Image-enabled Office
• EP Lab Measurements
• 3D/4D Echo
• Implantable Device Cardiac Observations
• ECG Workflow
• Quality/Data Harvesting
• Reporting
• Patient Care Coordination
• XDS.b
• ATNA Audit Event List
• PDI Update
• Electrophysiology Query for Implanted Cardiac Devices - PDQ-IDC
• Grayscale for monitors

The workitems selected for this Cycle:

• Image-enabled Office
• ECG Workflow
• Implantable Device Cardiac Observations (IDCO) Supplement Update

Demonstrations & Presentations

Date	Location	Event	Details
Feb 24-28, 2008	Orlando, FL	HIMSS 08	Live Demonstrations, Education

Supporters and Endorsements

IHE Cardiology is supported or endorsed by the following organizations:

• Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)[1]
• American College of Cardiology (ACC) www.acc.org
• European Society of Cardiology (ESC) www.escardio.org
• Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) http://www.j-circ.or.jp
• Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) [2]

See Also

Committees

This page is based on the Domain Template.