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eclipse.org Open Healthcare Framework (OHF) Project

This project addresses part of an need to improve the levels of interoperability between applications and systems within and across healthcare organizations – corporate and regions.

The project will implement extensible frameworks and exemplary tools for implementations of key health informatics standards based component and support the objectives of many government health departments to encourage the use of interoperable open source infrastructure to lower integration barriers.

The frameworks, components and tools created by this project will be used by vendors and integrators to build workstation applications, gateways and server applications in healthcare infrastructures.

URL: http://www.eclipse.org/ohf/

 

eHealth Standardization Coordination Group (World Health Organization) is a platform to promote stronger coordination amongst the key players in all technical areas of e-health standardization. The group is a place for exchange of information and will work towards the creation of cooperation mechanisms to:

• Identify areas where further standardization is required and try to identify responsibilities for such activities;
• Provide guidance for implementations and case studies;
• Consider the requirements for appropriate development paths for health profiles of existing standards from different sources in order to provide functional sets for key health applications;
• Support activities to increase user awareness of the existing standards, and case studies.

URL: http://www.who.int/ehscg/en/

 

Health Level Seven (commonly HL7) is one of several American National Standards Institute (ANSI) -accredited Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) operating in the healthcare arena. Most SDOs produce standards (sometimes called specifications or protocols) for a particular healthcare domain such as pharmacy, medical devices, imaging or insurance (claims processing) transactions. Health Level Seven’s domain is clinical and administrative data. Our mission is to: "To provide standards for the exchange, management and integration of data that support clinical patient care and the management, delivery and evaluation of healthcare services. Specifically, to create flexible, cost effective approaches, standards, guidelines, methodologies, and related services for interoperability between healthcare information systems."

URL: http://www.hl7.org

 

OpenECG The mission of the project is to promote the consistent use of format and communication standards for computerised ECGs and to pave the way towards developing similar standards for stress ECG, Holter ECG, and real-time monitoring. OpenECG, coordinated by an interdisciplinary, highly motivated consortium, will attract membership from healthcare authorities, cardiologists, integrators, engineers, standardisation bodies, manufacturers, and the public.

Its specific goals with regard to computerised ECG standards are:

• to raise the level of awareness;
• to organize information days, workshops, and a programming contest;
• to consolidate expertise, assist integration and support correct implementations;
• to provide feedback to standardisation bodies;
• to prepare the ground for interoperability in other ECG-related examinations.

URL: http://www.OpenECG.net

 

openEHR is an international not-for-profit Foundation, working towards:

• Interoperable, life-long electronic health records, proven in practice
• Understanding the social, clinical and technical challenges of electronic records for health care in the information society.

URL: http://www.openehr.org

 

WorldVistA seeks to make healthcare information technology more affordable and more widely available worldwide. In particular, WorldVistA is focused on further developing and supporting the growing global VistA community.

WorldVistA was formed to extend and improve the VistA health information system for use outside of its original setting. The system was developed by the U.S. government for use in its veterans' hospitals and outpatient clinics. WorldVistA has a number of development efforts aimed at adding new software modules such as pediatrics, obstetrics, and other functions not used in the veterans' healthcare setting.

WorldVistA seeks to help those who choose to adopt the VistA system to successfully master, install, and maintain the software for their own use. WorldVistA will strive to guide VistA adopters and programmers towards developing a community based on principles of open, collaborative, peer review software development and dissemination.

URL: http://www.worldvista.org