Summary
Objectives:
To meet the challenge for high quality and efficient care, highly specialized and
distributed healthcare establishments have to communicate and co-operate in a semantically
interoperable way. Information and communication technology must be open, flexible,
scalable, knowledge-based and service-oriented as well as secure and safe.
Methods:
For enabling semantic interoperability, a unified process for defining and implementing
the architecture, i.e. structure and functions of the cooperating systems’ components,
as well as the approach for knowledge representation, i.e. the used information and
its interpretation, algorithms, etc. have to be defined in a harmonized way. Deploying
the Generic Component Model, systems and their components, underlying concepts and
applied constraints must be formally modeled, strictly separating platform-independent
from platform-specific models.
Results:
As HL7 Version 3 claims to represent the most successful standard for semantic interoperability,
HL7 has been analyzed regarding the requirements for model-driven, service-oriented
design of semantic interoperable information systems, thereby moving from a communication
to an architecture paradigm. The approach is compared with advanced architectural
approaches for information systems such as OMG’s CORBA 3 or EHR systems such as GEHR/openEHR
and CEN EN 13606 Electronic Health Record Communication.
Conclusion:
HL7 Version 3 is maturing towards an architectural approach for semantic interoperability.
Despite current differences, there is a close collaboration between the teams involved
guaranteeing a convergence between competing approaches.
Keywords
Health telematics - HL7 - model-driven architecture - electronic health record architecture
- semantic interoperability
