what+is+IHE

=****IHE Australia Mission Statement** **= The IHE Australia Board created and approved the following Mission Statement in April 2009: ===****IHE Australia is an open not-for-profit initiative that supports the interoperability needs of e-Health Standards users in Australia. IHE Australia is the official local deployment group of IHE International. IHE International is endorsed by over 230 professional and Standards organisations, healthcare providers and vendors world-wide. IHE Australia has local responsibility for the promotion and education of the IHE approach, the evaluation, localisation and creation of Integration Specifications ("Profiles") and the running of local conformance testing events ("Connectathons") according to the IHE International guidelines, ISO 28380 TR and Australian best practice. IHE derives its Profiles from existing global and local standards, but is not a Standards Development Organisation.** **=== ===****IHE Australia supports the Australian e-Health Standards Implementer Community by:****=== ● Evaluating the existing IHE International Profiles against the requirements of the Australian e-Health Standards Implementation Community ● Localising IHE International Profiles according to agreed Australian requirements ● Creating IHE Australia Profiles to address real-world user integration issues based on Australian Standards, national e-health infrastructure and Australian best practice ● Educating and championing the importance of IHE Profiles for effective interoperability of standards-based system ● Promoting IHE as the most effective process to achieve the interoperability of deployed systems in healthcare ● Developing skills and knowledge of the IHE integration testing ("Connectathon") methodology and tools ● Holding IHE Connectathons, Interoperability Showcases and other events to support the Australian e-Health Standards Implementation Community **
 * ● Managing a user-led and industry-driven IHE process to establish an agreed suite of fit-for-purpose Integration Specifications ("Profiles") for Australia

IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. Systems that support IHE Integration Profiles work together better, are easier to implement, and help care providers use information more effectively. The goal is efficient delivery of optimal patient care. Several hundred [|products]support one or more IHE Profiles.


 * [|Integration Profiles]** describe clinical information management use cases and specify how to use existing standards (HL7, DICOM, etc,...) to address them. Systems that implement integration profiles solve interoperability problems.
 * For equipment vendors, Integration Profiles are implementation guides.
 * For healthcare providers, Integration Profiles are a shorthand for integration requirements in purchasing documents.
 * [|Connectathons]** are regular (usually annual) events where vendors test their products with other vendors to the IHE Integration Profiles.


 * [|Integration Statements]** are confirmation by vendors that a specific release of a specific product is technically equivalent the products tested at a Connectathon.


 * [|Technical Frameworks]** are the documents that specify the Integration Profiles and the associated systems (actors) and transactions.

__**Showcases**__ are public demonstrations where vendors show how their products that were tested at an IHE Connectathon integrate and interoperate in clinical scenarios.

IHE Internation al ([|www.IHE.net]) is an organisation that enables users and developers of information technology systems for healthcare to collaborate on solving communication and integration problems to support patient care. IHE International's goal is to //"...improve the ability of computer systems in healthcare to share information so that all information relevant to a patient's care is available to the patient and the care provider when required..."// This is achieved through the precise definition of healthcare tasks, the specification of standards-based communication between IT systems and the testing of systems to determine that they conform to the specifications.


 * IHE Australia** is the national member of IHE International. Further information on IHE Australia is available at [|www.IHE.net.au]

This Wiki is for collaborative creation of IHE Australia materials and ongoing activities. For general IHE International information and official publications, please see **[|www.IHE.net]** and the IHE international committees and activities Wiki ([|http://Wiki.IHE.net])

Contact e-mail: Admin@IHE.net.au