It Standards

Question :

In order to implement healthcare information systems that are interoperable, the systems must be able to exchange data. What are the standards for implementation? What role do these standards play in the implementation and data exchange process? What steps can be implemented to ensure standards are followed within a health service organization? 

Answer :

Standards for implementation

Different healthcare standards assist to implement the healthcare information systems. The standards are HL7, DICOM, HL7CDA, CCR, CCOW, LOINC, ELINCS, X12, SNOMED, NCPDP and HITSP.

Role of the standards

Health Level Seven (HL7) provides standards to exchange clinical information and data. Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) provides standards to handle, store, print and transmit data in medical imaging. Clinical Document Architecture (HL7 CDA) provides standard to exchange clinical data such as patient record architecture. Continuity of Care Record (CCR) provides standards to transport and organize information about the healthcare of the patient (Wager, Lee and Glaser, 2013). Clinical Context Management Specification (CCOW) enables clinical application for sharing information at the care point. Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) provide universal codes names and medical terminologies associated with Electronic Health Record which assist to exchange electronic results. EHR LAB Interoperability and Connectivity Standards (ELINCS) provides standards to report lab test results (Adeleke et al., 2018). X12 provides standards to exchange electronic data interchange within the healthcare organization. Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED) provides computerized clinical terminology to cover clinical data for clinical findings and diseases. National Council for Prescription Drug Programs governs transactions of prescriptions. Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) provides standards to support and assist the interoperability among the information technology within healthcare.  

Steps for the implementation

The understanding of the healthcare information systems standards are considered to be important to implement it appropriately. Training need to be provided to the team members and a specific procedure should be developed (Blumenthal, 2011). The clinical process need to be selected where the standards will provide benefit. The managers would examine the future and present situation to develop a working culture. Implementing and monitoring the standards.

References

Adeleke, I., Fincham, C., Garde, S. and Ekeland, A. (2018). Health Information Technology Continues to Show Positive Effect on Medical Outcomes: Systematic Review. [online] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5818676/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].

Blumenthal, D. (2011). Implementation of the Federal Health Information Technology Initiative | NEJM. [online] New England Journal of Medicine. Available at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1112158 [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].

Wager, K., Lee, F. and Glaser, J. (2013). Managing health care information systems. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.