| Popis: |
The IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) initiative has r ecently developed into a mu lti-national effort that ad-dresses the specific needs of healthcare systems in North America, many European countries as well as Japan. Theintroduction of IHE in Europe is a particular challenge because the structure of the healthcare sector deviates signifi-cantly from country to country, with different legislation, language, medical and organizational procedures and, notthe least, different vendors: HIS/RIS systems are typically tailored towards a specific market, and the majority of ven-dors is only present in one or a few countries. The first multi-national European Connect-a-thon was performed inApril, 2002 with 57 participating systems from 33 companies, in preparation of four different public demonstrations inthree countries. The systems were grouped into a French, German and Italian section (according to the national ex-tensions supported by each system), with certain overlaps, i. e. systems participating in multiple sections in parallel.In conclusion, experiences in Europe show that IHE cannot simply be copied, but has to be adapted to the specificitiesof national healthcare systems. The good news is, however, that the specifics are only of minor nature compared to theoverall complexityof the transactions involved.Keywords: IHE, DICOM, HL7, Interoperability |
