The role of standards in healthcare automation (Extended abstract)

The creation of an integrated healthcare information infrastructure depends on all parties involved; consumers, healthcare professionals, researchers, and insurers, having systems, tools, and information that are complete, correct, secure and interoperable. The basis for achieving this rests with the availability of healthcare information standards that are complete, implementable, testable, and that contribute to interoperability. In this paper we have identified the role of standards in integrating such a heathcare enterprise, with emphasis on electronic health records, semantic interoperability, simulation, medical device integration, supply chain management, bioimaging, and pharmaceutical production. We need to ensure that these standards are complete and testable by providing the necessary conformance tests, interoperability tools and techniques.