New technologies are being introduced in hospitals and other healthcare organizations at an ever-increasing rate. Many of these innovations have the potential to interact synergistically if they can be integrated effectively. The need for interoperability between health IT systems has attracted great attention particularly in the recent years as we move closer to the dream of patient-centric care that spans the healthcare continuum.
Standards facilitate information exchange and are a critical foundation to enable interoperability of health IT solutions. HL7 plays a pivotal role as it specifies a number of standards, guidelines and methodologies by which various health IT systems can interact with one another. These standards and guidelines enable information to be shared & processed in a uniform & consistent manner. In addition, HL7 as an organization provides a mature place in which users, purchasers and suppliers can build consensus on health IT systems interoperability & the means to achieve standardisation.
Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven Inc. (www.hl7.org) is a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of Health Services. HL7 has more than 2,400 members representing approximately 500 corporate members, including 90 percent of the information systems vendors serving healthcare.
Numerous HL7 Affiliates have been established around the globe including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and now Singapore!
HL7 Singapore is an open, not-for-profit organization to support the development, promotion and implementation of HL7 standards in ways that meet the needs of healthcare organizations, healthcare professionals and healthcare IT practitioners in Singapore.
The official launch of the HL7 Singapore Affiliate will take place on June 27, 2008 at the MOH Auditorium (Level 2, College of Medicine Building).
Visit this link for a report of the big day.