Standards in Healthcare Information Systems

Published by James Taylor

Introduction

One of the basic requirements for the continued delivery of quality healthcare is the smooth and stable information exchange of the health information across the levels as well as the various contexts of the healthcare. Healthcare Information System (HIS) enables stakeholders as well as participants in healthcare to share critical information and also share some of the research that they have conducted within the medical field. It is the broad framework which consolidates the healthcare functions in a platform that is unified(Sicilia &Balazota, 2013). An integrated system will thus communicate the patient requirements as well as some of the individual requisites that are required for a capable system. A common system needs to be established for ensuring that the standards for the healthcare information systems have been followed effectively. Standards often help in providing guidelines and the appropriate strategies that could be used in evaluating the existing systems (Wager et al., 2009).

The healthcare information standards provide a common language and the set of expectations always enable the interoperability between the systems and the services. The resources used in the healthcare information systems provide high-level overviews of the health information technology standards that can direct one to the additional details for the development and implementation of the standards (Wager et al., 2009). Just like the International Organization of Standards (ISO), the health information systems standards always ensures that even if the doctors and other medical practitioners use the systems, they have a basis for reference upon which they will use in the determination of the basic medical needs and requirements (Allaert et al., 2012).

From the architectural schema, it is evident that through the use of middleware, the services have been effectively implemented through multiple technologies, for instance, Java, DCOM, and COBRA (Sicilia &Balazota, 2013). The pressure to duplicate techniques and data in several information systems allows them to operate through anchoring it with other forms of integration. The connective elements enable an integration as well as interlinking of the Health Information Systems.

The following table is an illustration of standards that are required for the specific health information systems that have been included in the architectural schema.

Standard	Explanation
HL7 Standard	This standard is dedicated to providing for a comprehensive framework and the standards relating to exchange, integration as well as sharing and retrieving the electronic health information which supports the clinical practice and the management and evaluation of the health services.
DICOM	The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine is the international standard used in transmitting, storage, printing as well as the display of the medical imaging information and data. The standard; i. Makes the medical and imaging data to be interoperable ii. Integrate the image-acquisition devices, workstations, VNAs as well as printers iii. Free to download and use iv. Created and serviced to fulfill the needs of the evolving technologies
CCR (Continuity of Care Record)	This standard responds to the need for the organization and making the transportable a set of information regarding the health of a patient which is accessible to clinicians and patients (Sicilia &Balazota, 2013).
LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes)	This standard applies a universal code name as well as identifiers to the medical terminologies relating to the EHR as well as assisting in the exchange and gathering of clinical results, for instance, the lab tests, clinical observations as well as outcome management(Wager et al., 2009).
CCHIT (Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology)	This standard serves as the recognized certification in the United States certification authority for Electronic Health Records and their networks.
HITSP	This standard helps in the achievement of widely accepted and the readily-implemented standards which will enable support and widespread interoperability amongst the healthcare and information technology.

Looking at the architectural schema provided for the health systems, these standards elaborated above will be critical in enhancing the diagnosis, checking on the prescription as well as evaluating the tests that have been conducted on a patient. With an improved medical system, it will be possible to address all the medical needs of patients with the quality of healthcare being high(Wager et al., 2009). It is critical that doctors and nurses adhere to these standards and guidelines even as they implement effective information management systems (Sicilia &Balazota, 2013). For the quality in the provisioning of healthcare, it has been possible to determine the elements as well as the metrics of an information system that can be used in enhancing the systems.

Conclusion

In short, standards are the guidelines and a set of procedures that govern a system. Standards and guidelines need to be followed effectively to ensure that the requirements of a system have been achieved. Additionally, this enables a system to work to its optimum and thus improving the reliability of the system as well as the functionality. Health information standards guide the interoperability between the users and the system in that there are specific guidelines that will help in determining the specific use cases.

References

Allaert, F.-A., Blobel, B., & Louwerse, C. P. (2012). Security Standards for Healthcare Information Systems: A Perspective from the Eu Isis Medsec Project.

Sicilia, M.-A., & Balazota, P. S. (2013). Interoperability in healthcare information systems: Standards, management, and technology.

Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., Glaser, J. P., & Wager, K. A. (2009). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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