Clinical Data Standards in Health Care: Five Case Studies

Publication Date: July 2005

Publisher: California HealthCare Foundation

Author(s): Katherine Kim

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Unlike other industries, such as international banking, which developed and implemented standards for electronic data exchange, the American health care system still has much work to do to achieve a common data framework. Interoperability--the enabling of communications across software and hardware of multiple vendors--requires the creation, acceptance, and implementation of clinical data standards to assure that data in one part of the system is available and usable across a variety of clinical settings. This report provides a general overview of clinical data standards and highlights how different organizations are using those standards to implement interoperable software solutions. Five case studies from a spectrum of health care organizations underscore the challenges and opportunities for implementing clinical data standards today.