Originally Published MX September/October 2004
SPECIAL REPORT: IT IN HEALTHCARE
Hey, Everybody! Let's Put on an Integrated System!|
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How can manufacturers determine whether their products—and their competitors' products—can be effectively integrated into IT-based healthcare systems?
In some cases, a product's interoperability may not be fully known until a real-world installation is under way, which can be a bad time for problems to surface. So, for manufacturers of medtech products, the chance to try out such links in a strictly exploratory mode can be valuable indeed.
For companies that do business in the healthcare imaging, cardiology, and clinical laboratory markets—and those specializing in tools for the healthcare IT infrastructure—just such an opportunity is coming up in January of next year. The event, called the "IHE Joint Connectathon," involves a week of interoperability testing for medical products. Participating companies prepare ahead of time using special applications developed for the purpose. Then, when the manufacturers gather, information is exchanged among their products.
The Connectathon is sponsored by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)—which itself is a joint initiative of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The mission of IHE is to stimulate integration of healthcare information technology, and the Connectathon is one very pragmatic way of doing so.
There have been five previous Connectathons. According to the IHE Web site, the Connectathon creates "a highly interactive environment to demonstrate practical interoperability in both the acute-care and ambulatory settings, featuring standards-based connectivity across the healthcare enterprise in support of an electronic health record." The event will include demonstrations in "continuity of care records, radiology images, cardiology reports, laboratory results, and the information infrastructure to support security."
The next edition of the IHE Connectathon will take place January 17–21, 2005, in Oak Brook, IL. Applications for participation are due by October 30. For general information about how the Connectathon works, and results of past events, visit the Connectathon Web site at www.rsna.org/IHE/connectathon.shtml. For details about participation, including registration fees and sign-up information, visit www.rsna.org/IHE/participation/index.shtml.
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