TOWARDS INTEROPERABILITY IN e-HEALTH SYSTEMS: A Three-Dimensional Approach based on Standards and Semantics

Abstract

The interoperability problem in eHealth can only be addressed by means of combining standards and technology. However, these alone do not suffice. An appropriate framework that articulates such combination is required. In this paper, we adopt a three-dimensional (information, concept, and inference) approach for such framework, based on OWL as formal language for terminological and ontological health resources, SNOMED CT as lexical backbone for all such resources, and the standard CEN 13606 for representing EHRs. Based on such framework, we propose a novel form for creating and supporting networks of clinical terminologies. Additionally, we propose a number of software modules to semantically process and exploit EHRs, including NLP-based search and inference, which can support medical applications in heterogeneous and distributed eHealth systems. © 2008 IEEE.