Technical Standards and the Development and Integration of Health Care Information Systems

Technical standards play an essential role in the facilitation of health care information system interoperability, and there are a number of health informatics-focused organizations-both within the United States and on an international level-that work actively to coordinate and promote the adoption of these standards.

To prepare for this Application Assignment, review this week's Resources.

To complete this Application Assignment, write a 1- to 2-page paper that explains why technical standards are needed in the development and integration of health care information systems. Then, select three specific technical standards for health information technology (one identifier standard, one general communications standard, and one specific communications standard) and research each of these standards through a literature review. For each of these three standards, be sure to identify the health informatics-focused organization that coordinates the standard and explain the reason(s) that the organization promotes the standard.

Reading materials:

Video: Laureate Education (Producer). (2009). Introduction to health informatics: Interoperability and standards[Video file].

Course Text: Handbook of Informatics for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals

Chapter 13, "System Integration and Interoperability"

Article: Hammond, W. (2004). The role of standards in electronic prescribing. Health Affairs, 23, 325-327.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

http://www.ansi.org/

Health Level Seven

http://www.hl7.org

Article: Pike, G. H. (2009). HIPAA gets new privacy rules. Information Today, 26(4), 13-15.

Article: Friedman, M. A., Schueth, A., & Bell, D. (2009). Interoperable electronic prescribing in the United States: A progress report. Health Affairs, 28(2), 393-403.