ACTIVITIES :: ICT for Health :: eHealth interoperability
Interoperability: connecting eHealth services
eHealth presents an important opportunity to improve coordination across the entire healthcare delivery chain, from prevention to diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. When eHealth systems are able to communicate with each other effectively, doctors in different hospitals, or even different countries, can manage a patient’s care more efficiently.
In order to reap these benefits, eHealth tools and solutions need to be
interoperable. Interoperability is thus both a prerequisite and facilitator of
eHealth deployment.
What is eHealth interoperability?
Interoperability can be defined as the capability for independent and heterogeneous health information systems to exchange health-related data for use by doctors, healthcare providers and patients. Early cooperation throughout the design of eHealth systems among providers (e.g. hospitals), payers (such as insurance companies) and suppliers (IT companies) is key to ensure that services are well connected. Developing common standards is key to achieving interoperability, and requires proactive engagement of all the main stakeholders implicated in or impacted by the implementation of eHealth solutions.
Benefits of interoperable eHealth solutions
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For healthcare professionals: Improved quality and safety of care through strengthened coordination; up to date patient status information and evidence-based clinical guidelines to support decision-making procedures.
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For patients: Enhanced safety of treatments received, delivery of care at the point of need, integrated care including quality and safe treatment abroad, e.g. in an emergency situation in another EU Member State.
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For payers: Interoperable systems result in significantly lower implementation and integration costs. For example, an MRI image from a hospital can be exchanged and used by a general practitioner, or a specialist in another hospital without the need to repeat tests.
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For the industry: The use of a common eHealth EU Interoperability Framework can help unleash the digital single market for healthcare, opening up competition and reducing costs for developers.
Levels of interoperability
There are four key main levels of interoperability that should be fulfilled in order to integrate health information systems effectively. These levels can be grouped as following:
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Technical: technical interoperability involves linking up computers and services and enabling independent systems to exchange health-related information. This includes aspects such as open interfaces, interconnection services, data integration and middleware, data presentation and exchange, accessibility and security services.
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Semantic: semantic interoperability implies not just the possibility for independent systems to exchange data, but also to exchange meaning. It is thus the ability to exchange, understand and act on health-related information and knowledge across the many languages and cultures of health professionals, patients and other organisations.
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Organisational: organisational interoperability involves defining the necessary business goals and processes to promote collaboration between administrations and healthcare service providers that wish to exchange information but have different internal structures and processes.
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Legal: legal interoperability is about developing the appropriate legal framework in different jurisdictions to enable secured access to and processing of patient information transferred electronically.
Additionally, the 2008 EC Recommendation on Interoperability stresses the importance of strong political commitment at the national, regional and local level and of education and awareness-raising activities.
EU action
The eHealth Action Plan and the Digital Agenda for Europe set the headline targets for making well connected eHealth services a reality in EU Member States. To these extents, a series of key EU policies to promote eHealth interoperability are currently being implemented.
Additionally, several research and implementation projects are being funded. Among these, epSOS is the main EC-funded interoperability project. It aims to improve medical treatment for citizens while abroad by providing essential patient data electronically to healthcare professionals in a secure way.
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| Last update by the Editor (ehealth(AT)ec.europa.eu): 23/02/12 |