Recruitment Brochure

IHE: Changing the Way Healthcare Connects

What is IHE? - Puzzle Piece Brochure

Optimal patient care requires efficient, secure access to comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs). Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) accelerates the adoption of EHRs by improving communication among healthcare information systems.

Engaging HIT Stakeholders in a Proven Process

IHE brings together users and developers of healthcare information technology (HIT)--domain experts from many different areas of care. They engage in an annually recurring four-step process:

1. Clinical and technical experts Define critical use cases for information sharing.
2. Technical experts create detailed specifications for standards-based communication among systems to address these use cases.
3. Industry implements these specifications--called IHE Profiles--in HIT products.
4. IHE tests these systems at carefully planned and supervised events called Connectathons and records and publishes the results.

IHE also organizes demonstrations of IHE-compatible systems at medical meetings and other venues. Vendors can publish detailed, accessible information about the IHE capabilities they build into commercial HIT products.

Integration Profiles: A Framework for Interoperability

IHE Integration Profiles provide a standards-based framework for sharing information within care sites and across networks. They address critical interoperability issues related to information access for care providers and patients, clinical workflow, security, administration and information infrastructure. Each profile defines the actors, transactions and information required to address the clinical use case by referencing appropriate standards. Profiles are compiled into IHE Technical Frameworks, detailed technical documents designed for systems developers and implementers and freely available online at http://www.ihe.net/technical_framework/.

IHE also provides resources for IT administrators and others responsible for purchasing and integrating systems at healthcare sites and in health information exchanges. Implementation advice is available in domain-specific IHE handbooks, available for free at

Domain Committees: Meeting Critical Interoperability Needs

IHE committees work in annual cycles to develop and maintain the IHE Technical Frameworks. They identify critical clinical interoperability use cases and define how to use established information standards to address them. IHE committees are active in the following domains:

• Anatomic Pathology
• Eye Care
• IT Infrastructure
• Laboratory
• Patient Care Coordination
• Patient Care Devices
• Quality, Research and Public Health
• Radiation Oncology
• Radiology

You can be a leader in this work: clinical and technical domain experts are invited to take part. Find out more at http://www.ihe.net/domains/ or by contacting the domain secretary at secretary@ihe.net.

More than 200 member organizations--including professional societies, government agencies, care providers, healthcare IT companies and others--have joined the IHE initiative worldwide. The current list of member organizations and information about how your organization can become a member are available http://www.ihe.net/governance/member_organizations.cfm.

Connectathons: Testing Interoperability and Conformance

IHE has been testing the interoperability of healthcare IT systems for more than a decade. At IHE Connectathons held annually in several locations internationally, trained technical experts supervise testing of vendor systems, making use of advanced testing software developed by IHE and several partner organizations. IHE publishes the results of testing in an online database at [Need url of product registry.] Companies can also create IHE Integration Statements to publicize the integration capabilities of their commercial products.

More than 250 vendors worldwide have implemented and tested products with IHE capabilities. Further information about IHE Connectathons is available at http://www.ihe.net/connectathon/ or by contacting testing@ihe.net.

[INSERT PROCESS DIAGRAM FROM PUZZLE PIECE BROCHURE]

Supporting Health Information Networks Worldwide

Carefully implemented interoperability standards are the foundation of the EHR, PHR (personal health record) and health information exchanges being established in local, regional and national networks around the world.

IHE has defined a common framework to deliver the basic interoperability needed for local, regional and nationwide health information exchanges. It has developed a foundational set of standards-based integration profiles for information exchange with three interrelated efforts:

1. Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS), enabling access to a patient's full medical history.
2. A security framework for protecting the confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of personal health information.
3. Patient identification management to ensure consistent patient information and effective collation of a patient's information across care settings and care events.

IHE profiles support health information networks in Canada, U.S.A, several European countries, Japan and China. In the U.S.A they have been selected by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to address priority use cases and accepted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the procurement of healthcare IT systems by the Federal Government.

"IHE, more than any other single organization, has paved the way for practical interoperability." - Wes Rishel, Gartner, Inc.

"IHE is dedicated to meeting global demands for improved healthcare quality, cost effectiveness and safety by accelerating the
availability of integrated and interoperable systems." - Elliott Sloane, PhD, Assistant Professor Department of 
Decision and Information Technologies, Villanova School of Business, Villanova University

• Advanced testing tools

IHE Outcomes Improved access to medical information

• safety
• quality
• efficiency
• privacy/security?

Recruitment Pitch IHE invites knowledgeable experts from the user and vendor communities to join its domain committees and participate in the current cycle of profile development. Participants have the opportunity to influence the direction of standards adoption for sharing medical information and improving care. The currently active domains are:

• Anatomic Pathology
• Eye Care
• IT Infrastructure
• Laboratory
• Patient Care Coordination
• Patient Care Devices
• Quality, Research and Public Health
• Radiation Oncology
• Radiology

Information on the work of the committees is available on each domain's Wiki page: http://wiki.ihe.net/index.php?

All committees are open to participants. Stakeholders interested in participating or learning more should contact the committee secretaries listed there.

• How to become a Member ORG
• List of current member orgs
• Sponsors -- Need Web page
• National/Regional Orgs -- Need Web page

Tools for Implementers

Testing Process for Vendors

Marketing and Communications Committee