How to Prepare an IHE Integration Statement

IHE Integration Statements are documents prepared and published by vendors to describe the conformance of their products with the IHE Technical Framework. They identify the specific IHE capabilities a given product supports in terms of IHE actors and integration profiles described in the technical frameworks of each domain.

Users familiar with these concepts can use Integration Statements to determine what level of integration a vendor asserts a product supports with complementary systems and what clinical and operational benefits such integration might provide. Integration Statements are intended to be used in conjunction with statements of conformance to specific standards (e.g., HL7, IETF, DICOM, W3C, etc.).

IHE provides a process for vendors to test their implementations of IHE actors and integration profiles. The IHE testing process, culminating in a multi-party interactive testing event called the Connectathon, provides vendors with valuable feedback and provides a baseline indication of the conformance of their implementations. The process is not intended to independently evaluate, or ensure, product compliance. In publishing the results of the Connectathon and facilitating access to vendors' IHE Integration Statements, IHE and its sponsoring organizations are in no way attesting to the accuracy or validity of any vendor's IHE Integration Statements or any other claims by vendors regarding their products.

IMPORTANT -- PLEASE NOTE: Vendors have sole responsibility for the accuracy and validity of their IHE Integration Statements. Vendors' Integration Statements are made available through IHE simply for consideration by parties seeking information about the integration capabilities of particular products. IHE and its sponsoring organizations have not evaluated or approved any IHE Integration Statement or any related product, and IHE and its sponsoring organizations shall have no liability or responsibility to any party for any claims or damages, whether direct, indirect, incidental or consequential, including but not limited to business interruption and loss of revenue, arising from any use of, or reliance upon, any IHE Integration Statement.

Structure and Content of an IHE Integration Statement

An IHE Integration Statement for a product shall include:

1. The Vendor Name
2. The Product Name (as used in the commercial context) to which the IHE Integration Statement applies.
3. The Product Version to which the IHE Integration Statement applies.
4. A publication date and optionally a revision designation for the IHE Integration Statement.
5. The following statement: "This product implements all transactions required in the IHE Technical Framework to support the IHE Integration Profiles, Actors and Options listed below:"
6. A list of IHE Integration Profiles supported by the product and, for each Integration Profile, a list of IHE Actors supported. For each integration profile/actor combination, one or more of the options defined in the IHE Technical Framework may also be stated. Profiles, Actors and Options shall use the names defined by the IHE Technical Framework Volume I. (Note: The vendor may also elect to indicate the version number of the Technical Framework referenced for each Integration Profile.)

Note that implementation of the integration profile implies implementation of all required transactions for an actor as well as selected options.

The statement shall also include references and/or internet links to the following information:

1. Specific internet address (or universal resource locator [URL]) where the vendor's Integration Statements are posted
2. URL where the vendor's standards conformance statements (e.g., HL7, DICOM, etc.) relevant to the IHE transactions implemented by the product are posted.
3. URL of the IHE Initiative's web page for general IHE information www.himss.org/ihe.

An IHE Integration Statement is not intended to promote or advertise aspects of a product not directly related to its implementation of IHE capabilities.

Format of an IHE Integration Statement

Each Integration Statement shall follow the format shown below. Vendors may add a cover page and any necessary additional information in accordance with their product documentation policies.

IHE Integration Statement	Date	12 Oct 2005
Vendor	Product Name	Version
Any Medical Systems Co.	IntegrateRecord	V2.3
This product implements all transactions required in the IHE Technical Framework to support the IHE Integration Profiles, Actors and Options listed below:
Integration Profiles Implemented	Actors Implemented	Options Implemented
Cross-Enterprise Sharing of Medical Summaries	Document Consumer	View Option
Audit Trail and Node Authentication	Secure Node	none
Patient Identity Cross-referencing	Patient Identifier Cross-reference Consumer	PIX Update Notification
Internet address for vendor's IHE information:www.anymedicalsystemsco.com/ihe
Links to Standards Conformance Statements for the Implementation
HL7	www.anymedicalsystemsco.com/hl7
Links to general information on IHE
In North America: www.ihe.het	In Europe: www.ihe-europe.org	In Japan: www.jira-net.or.jp/ihe-j

IHE Integration Statement template

An IHE Integration Statement template (MS Word version) is available here.

The IHE Product Registry

The assumption of an integration statement is that all actors listed are functionally grouped and conform to any profile specifications for such groupings. In case of exceptions the vendor must explicitly describe the functional groupings.

IHE has developed a new Web-based database of Integration Statements. The IHE Product Registry enables developers to create, manage and publish Integration Statements for their commercial and open source healthcare IT systems. It allows users to browse for these systems based on their conformance with specific IHE Actors and Profiles. The system is open for use by developers and users now!