CHICAGO, IL - November 25, 2002 - The healthcare industry is taking steps to use data standards to better integrate healthcare information, according to testimony before a government panel on Monday by two experts from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Software companies in the industry are gravitating toward several predominant standards to improve the communication of data within healthcare organizations, said David Roberts, HIMSS' director of public policy, in testimony before the Institute of Medicine's committee on patient safety data standards. In reporting on results of a survey conducted by HIMSS, Roberts said 91% of software companies reported that their products use standards set by Health Level 7, known by the acronym HL7, while 82% use standards from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, or ICD.

Another 73% of software companies say their products conform to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) standards. HL7 is the message standard that enables information systems from different vendors to exchange data without human intervention. ICD and CPT are coding systems used to create healthcare bills. Respondents also believe that integration efforts will benefit from broad efforts to demonstrate or encourage data sharing. IHE, co-sponsored with the Radiological Society of North America, has focused on applications in the radiology department, but other organizations, representing other clinical professionals have been invited to implement processes developed in the IHE initiative. IHE brings together healthcare IT stakeholders that agree to consistently implement standards for communicating clinical and operational data throughout the healthcare enterprise.