PaLM

Origin

The Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PaLM) domain of IHE becomes active as of January 2016. This domain merges and supersedes the two prior domains Laboratory (LAB) and Anatomic Pathology (AP) respectively launched in 2003 and 2006. The main reason for this merger was the recognition of a significant amount of similarities of the two prior domains scopes, and a long practice of reuse of assets (content modules, transactions) and common thinking from one another. The decision for this merger has been prepared collectively along year 2015 by the LAB and AP leaderships, common secretariat and memberships, and was approved by the Board of IHE International on November 12, 2015.

Scope

The PaLM domain covers:

the representation and exchange of digital structured data, digital documents, digital images related to ordering, scheduling, performing and reporting diagnostic observations on in-vitro specimens collected from a patient or a non-living subject ;
the representation and exchange of digital structured data related to specimen management (preparation, transportation, handoff, aliquoting, storage, retrieval)
the secondary use and exchange of the observation results
the diagnostic storage and reuse of specimens in bio banks

when a pathology laboratory is involved and in charge of the production of the observation report following the diagnostic/prognostic/screening tests, this laboratory having at least one of the specialties listed below:

Laboratory specialty	Sub-specialties
anatomic pathology specialties	surgical pathology, autopsy, cytopathology, image cytometry, immunohistochemistry
clinical pathology specialties	clinical chemistry, hematology, coagulation, blood gas, microbiology, immunology (allergy, auto-immunity, serology), transfusion medicine (blood bank testing), transplant compatibility testing (HLA), fertility, assisted medical procreation, cytogenetic (karyotype, molecular cytogenetic), drug monitoring and toxicology, flow cytometry
molecular pathology specialties	gene mutations detection in tumor cells, genetic identification and characterization of infectious agents, diagnostic of genetic disorders

Sponsorship

The current sponsors of the PaLM domain are:

In their first years of existence the prior domains LAB and/or AP were also sponsored by GMSIH, SEIS, SEAP, SFIL and IHE Japan.

Quick links

Overview of the PaLM profiles

IT Systems that can leverage PaLM profiles

Non-comprehensive list:

EHR-S in hospital and ambulatory care settings.
clinical and/or anatomic pathology laboratory information systems (LIS)
public health information systems and public health lab information systems
transfusion medicine systems
electronic healthcare record shared infrastructures (PHR, HIE …)
robotic specimen container distributers
barcode labelers
robotic specimen transportation systems
robotic peri-analytical devices in the laboratory work area
IVD analyzers in laboratory or on the point of care
middleware systems handling a set of analyzers and/or of peri-analytical devices, in laboratory or on the point of care.
imaging modalities
PACS and digital archive systems
biobank management systems

Timeline: 2016 Planning and Development Cycle

The following table outlines the activities and steps planned for the 2016 year.

Timeframe	Activity	Scheduled	Location
2016
Year long	PaLM TF maintenance and build of new profiles	Monthly, second Wednesday of the month 8-10 am (CET), 1st hour = planning & mgmt, 2nd hour = technical	conf calls + gotoMeeting
Jan	NA Connectathon	Jan 25-29	Cleveland, USA
April	EU Connectathon	April 11-15	Bochum, Germany
May	PaLM Committee Face to face	May 23 - 25	Berlin, Germany
July	Publish PaLM TF v7.0	July 5th	www.ihe.net
September	Japan Connectathon	September 13 - 17	Japan, Tokyo
November	PaLM Committee Face to face	November 7 - 9	Chicago, US

Current Activity

Laboratory Analytical Workflow (LAW) is reaching final text status after a session of intensive testing at the January 2016 NA connectathon. This integration profile, which has been built in a joint project between IHE and the IVD Industry Connectivity Consortium (IICC), will be published in 2016 as the new standard “AUTO16” for analyzers interfaces by the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI).

Currently working on the (LCC) - standardizing how to indicate suggested replacement orders from the filler side and requesting follow up work by the placer. More information can be found on the wiki

Laboratory-Clinical Communications(LCC)

How to Participate

As a Laboratorian, Pathologist, or Advocate

Get involved in the planning committee. This is where the clinical problems are discussed and prioritized. The planning committee is an open group and is interested in having your input. Bring us your interoperability problems. You can also help by participating in the HIMSS showcase scenario definitions.

You can do this by:

Request to join our IHE PaLM Committee Google Group
Attend telephone conferences and face to face meetings
Submit new profile proposals

As a Health IT Implementer

Get involved in the technical committee. Help make sure profiles are feasible and will work for you. Implement the profile, and come experience the IHE Connectathon event. 2011 Connectathon video clip

As a Health IT Buyer

In addition to getting involved in the planning committee, hold your vendors accountable. Put a statement in your RFP that indicates you want the vendor to support the actor in the profile you desire.

Demonstrations & Presentations

The following are recent and upcoming public presentations and demonstrations about IHE Lab. Email our IHE Laboratory Google Group about presentations or demonstrations you know about.

Date	Location	Event	Details

Standards Organization - Professional Meetings/Conferences

Date	Organization	Location	More Information