Exchange of computable patient data between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD): terminology mediation strategy.
Complete patient health information that is available where and when it is needed is essential to providers and patients and improves healthcare quality and patient safety. VA and DoD have built on their previous experience in patient data exchange to establish data standards and terminology services to enable real-time bi-directional computable (i.e., encoded) data exchange and achieve semantic interoperability in compliance with recommended national standards and the eGov initiative. The project uses RxNorm, UMLS, and SNOMED CT terminology standards to mediate codified pharmacy and allergy data with greater than 92 and 60 percent success rates respectively. Implementation of the project has been well received by users and is being expanded to multiple joint care sites. Stable and mature standards, mediation strategies, and a close relationship between healthcare institutions and Standards Development Organizations are recommended to achieve and maintain semantic interoperability in a clinical setting.
Bouhaddou
Omar
O
Veterans Affairs, VA Salt Lake City Office of Information, 550 Foothill Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84113, USA. omar.bouhaddou@va.gov
Warnekar
Pradnya
P
Parrish
Fola
F
Do
Nhan
N
Mandel
Jack
J
Kilbourne
John
J
Lincoln
Michael J
MJ
D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000145:classification / Q000592:standards*; D018511:Systems Integration; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D037041:United States Government Agencies; D018875:Vocabulary, Controlled