White Paper: Using Open Standards And IHE To Build Distributed Clinical Exchange Networks

By Rick Stroobosscher

Healthcare professionals rely on relevant, complete and critical clinical information to improve the quality of care for their patient. They expect secure access to clinical information, including diagnostic imaging, wherever that information resides in the healthcare community. This need for secure, yet readily reliable access increases the demands of the healthcare systems in place today creating new demand for innovative information technologies that enable the exchange of clinical information across enterprises and communities, and that further collaboration between healthcare providers and patients.

Open Standards and IHE-based Architecture for HIE
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE®) is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical need in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.