How much? Due Saturday at midnight.
RPaper PDF/Example 1.pdf
Big Data in Healthcare: Weighing the Benefits against Perceived Risks
Introduction:
Big data is growing in popularity and promise. The potential insights into consumer behavior continue to
grow as the data itself grows to include retail information, online footprints, social network posts, and mobile
presence. The application of this technology into healthcare settings brings to light one of big data’s largest
criticisms: privacy. The inherently personal nature of healthcare emphasizes the potentially unnerving
inferences that the big data allows in attempting to predict consumer behavior. Imagine going to your doctor’s
visit and the physician being aware of your recent Chinese food delivery habit. Or, imagine your issuance
premiums being raised due to your frequent trips to fast food restaurants (or lack of trips to the gym).
In light of these concerns, this paper attempts to address whether or not the bene伀氂its of big data in healthcare
outweigh concerns of privacy. This paper’s purpose is to prove that privacy, while important, is not a
prohibitive concern in big data’s role in healthcare. Research has shown that not only do the bene伀氂its outweigh
the perceived risks, but that the risks are largely a matter of perception due to lack of transparency.
Coincidently, the collective topics of big data, privacy, and healthcare have recently been addressed by reports
from the California Healthcare Foundation (CHF), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the President’s
1
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Findings and recommendations from these reports
have been incorporated in this paper.
Background:
To begin, big data is meant to refer to “the high volume, variety, and potential for the rapid accumulation of
data and to analytics, which is the discovery and communication of patterns in data.” (David W. Bates, 2014)
By this description, the value inherent in big data is a combination of data volume, variety, and velocity to be
harnessed as meaningful information through analytics. However, the increase in size and speed of data has
led to justi伀氂iable concerns regarding individual privacy. Big data is the accumulation of various data from
seemingly innocent and insigni伀氂icant sources, including web searches, social posts, etc. Consumers are often
unaware that information is being captured about them in order to be aggregated and eventually used to infer
about them. When taken in the context of medicine and an individual’s personal health, the potential
inferences can be unnerving.
Despite these concerns with privacy, the bene伀氂it from big data’s application in healthcare outweighs the risks.
In fact, “often times these data elements are collected and tracked not for malevolent purposes but rather for
improving clinical outcomes and reducing costs.” (McCann, 2014) Research even shows that the risks
associated with big data are partially a matter of perception due to poor transparency and consumer
awareness. As such, private organizations and government agencies have engaged the issue to present
recommendation.
Methodology:
In preparing this paper, several online sources were used for research and information gathering. There exist
a vast number of web sites and journals dedicated to the topic of big data as it is a contemporary topic in
business and IT that spans numerous industries. Of the topic of big data in healthcare, however, there were
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fewer established resources such as academic journals so this paper relies on several periodical and editorial
articles for perspective regarding bene伀氂its to healthcare. Fortunately, as the topics of big data, healthcare, and
privacy converge in real‑time, several creditable organizations and federal agencies have recently published
reports on the topic which have been incorporated in this paper.
How is Big Data Used in Healthcare?
The application of big data in healthcare is still a developing 伀氂ield, but in most cases researched the data is
used to derive predictive modeling for population health as well as individuals. (Robertson, 2014) This data is
having signi伀氂icant impact in improving clinical trials and helping patients manage chronic diseases. “One
particular instance included designing a recruitment strategy for a Hepatitis C vaccine trial, where they
located patient in伀氂luencers on Twitter, contacted them and asked them to publicize the vaccine trial.”
(McCann, 2014)
Another example: the Carolinas Healthcare Systems has been purchasing consumer data on over 2 million
people in order to develop algorithms to identify high‑risk patients for early intervention. The perspective of
Chief Clinical Of伀氂icer for Analytics is that “The data is already used to market to people to get them to do
things that might not always be in the best interest of the consumer. We are looking to apply this for
something good.” (Robertson, 2014)
Similar to Carolinas Healthcare, all users of big data have to purchase it through data brokers who collect and
disseminate data from retail, social networking, mobile, and other sources. The demand for big data has
driven an industry of vendors. A report from research 伀氂irm KLAS polled more than 100 healthcare providers
to capture which vendors they are considering and in which speci伀氂ic arenas. Healthcare providers mentioned
87 separate vendors being considered for business intelligence and analytics in value‑based care. No single
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vendor was mentioned more than 7 percent of the time. (Monegain, 2014) Recent report by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) regarding concerns with data broker practices is discussed later in this paper.
What is the Benefit of Big Data?
One’s 伀氂irst thought of any technology is that it will reduce costs and improve ef伀氂icient and while this is
potentially true for the application of big data, the reality goes much further. Big data’s application in
healthcare enables preventative and value‑based care, improves personalization of care, and facilitates better
public health monitoring.
Preventative Care
The use of big data in healthcare enables providers to move from responsive to preventative care for their
patients. This paradigm shift is a key aspect of the meaningful use requirement of the HITECH Act which
promotes a value‑based billing model for healthcare providers, in contrast to the traditional fee‑for‑service
model. Additionally, healthcare providers have a growing 伀氂inancial stake in preventative care because under
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, provider pay will become increasingly
tied to quality‑of‑care metrics. In extension, providers can be 伀氂ined for having too many readmitted patients
and/or reward for performing well on benchmarks and patient surveys. (Robertson, 2014)
Furthermore, Obamacare includes regulations that prevent insurers from denying patients coverage based on
pre‑existing conditions or changes in health status. At a high‑level, this means that big data cannot be used to
target patients and use price discrimination to adjust insurance rates. According to an analyst at Gartner (IT),
“The traditional rating and underwriting has gone away with health‑care reform. What [providers] are trying
to do is proactive care management, where we know you are a patient at risk for diabetes, so even before the
symptoms show up we are going to try to intervene.” (Robertson, 2014)
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As an example of big data enabling preventative care, the UPMC Insurance Services Division, the health
system’s insurance provider, purchases data on more than 2 million of its members to make predictions about
which individuals are most likely to use the emergency room (ER). Their studies show that people with no
children in the home who make less than $50,000 a year are more likely to use the ER rather than a private
doctor. UPMC, as an insurance provider, will be able to save money by predicting which patients are likely to
get sick or end up at the ER and intervening ahead of time. (Robertson, 2014)
Personalized Care
The application of big data in clinical settings is still developing but offers promise due to potential for greater
health and behavioral insights available to providers. While much of the data is currently used at an aggregate
level for predictive modeling, the growing adoption of passive monitoring devices and sensor‑enhanced
gadgets will drive personalization of care.
Carolinas Healthcare currently invests in data for predictive and behavioral modeling with the belief that
"information on consumer spending can provide a more complete picture than the glimpse doctors get during
an of伀氂ice visit or through lab results." (Schuman, 2014) This makes sense as doctor visits are short and
patients may not have time to share or the willingness to be open due to the fear of judgment. Similarly,
collection of data speci伀氂ic to an individual can enable better management of chronic illnesses. As an example,
the use of a GPD‑enabled inhaler has helped to determine patient‑speci伀氂ic triggers to asthma and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). (Sarasohn‑Kahn, 2014)
Public Health Monitoring
In contrast to personalized care, big data also enables insights into public health and provides a means for
researchers to understand population trends. The volume, variety, and velocity of data can provide
information on developing health concerns, such as forecasting and tracking epidemics. Consumer data such
as social media posts and mobile phone geo‑location data has been used successfully to tracking the spread of
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Cholera in Rwanda and Malaria in Kenya. (Sarasohn‑Kahn, 2014) Another tool that provides an example of big
data’s potential for public health monitoring is Google Flu. As shown below, Google has developed a tool to
forecast the likelihood of the spread of 伀氂lu internationally based on the aggregation of individual web search
data. (Google)
Figure 1: Google Flu Trends
Another potential use of big data for public health is to better understand behavioral habits speci伀氂ic to
populations and regions which could help identify causes of bad health. Data from retail is particularly useful
for this type of research. (Sarasohn‑Kahn, 2014) For example, by studying grocery shopping and restaurant
spending habits, researchers may be able to infer populations that would most bene伀氂it from education on
obesity and associated health risks.
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What are the Risks of Big Data?
Unfortunately, the bene伀氂its of big data’s use in healthcare are not without risks. In particular, several reports
have recently called‑out the questionable practices of data brokers who collect and sell consumer information.
In essence, these data brokers sell big data. As healthcare organizations realize the potential bene伀氂its of big
data, they must be careful to ensure patient privacy is protected. In addition to potential invasion of privacy,
other risks include the loss of data context and potential discrimination which can have negative implications.
Invasion of Privacy
The Federal Trade Commission has recently expressed concern over the unfettered access data brokers have
to consumer health information, without the consumer's consent. In a May 2014 report, the FTC outlined the
practices of nine data brokers and revealed that most consumers are unaware these brokers are collecting
data. Just one of the data brokers in the report, Acxiom, had more than 3,000 data segments for nearly every
U.S. consumer. (McCann, 2014) The FTC report 伀氂inds that data brokers collect and store billions of data
elements covering nearly every U.S. consumer. Just one of the data brokers studied holds information on more
than 1.4 billion consumer transactions and 700 billion data elements and another adds more than 3 billion
new data points to its database each month. (FTC, 2014)
Most people are unaware that they are leaving their personal data behind and that some of this information is
not protected by HIPAA. Data brokers are able to combine separate data sources and build dossiers on
individuals to sell to marketers, while consumers lack recourse to obtain or correct their information.
(Sarasohn‑Kahn, 2014). Data provided by brokers facilitates targeted marketing including the sending of
advertisements about health, ethnicity, or 伀氂inancial products, which some consumers may 伀氂ind troubling. (FTC,
2014)
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Additionally, several data brokers provide people search services which could be used to facilitate
harassment, or even stalking, and may expose domestic violence victims, law enforcement of伀氂icers,
prosecutors, public of伀氂icials, or other individuals to retaliation or other harm. (FTC, 2014)
Loss of Context
Another potential risk is that as data is aggregated, the context in which the data was collected is lost. This
context can include the location, demographic, economic, or other information about the original data. When
data is aggregated and algorithms are applied then there is serious risk that biases may exist leading to
misinterpreted results. As computer algorithms don’t maintain human sensibilities, then there is risk that
inferences from big data may have negative implications, which can be disastrous, even deadly, in a healthcare
setting. (Sarasohn‑Kahn, 2014)
Discrimination
As the nature of big data is to collect as much about individuals as possible, then at an individual or sub‑group
level the risk of discrimination has serious potential impact. The prevalence of the use of big data for targeted
marketing already brings concerns with price discrimination and stereotyping.
In price discrimination, sellers unfairly adjust prices based on consumer data, such as charging higher
insurance premiums for high‑risk patients. In contrast, stereotyping is the inadvertent, and potentially
offensive, grouping and labeling of population sub‑groups for convenience. The FTC acknowledged this risk
and gave the following example based on real‑life data from data brokers. “While a data broker could infer
that a consumer belongs in a data segment for “Biker Enthusiasts,” which would allow a motorcycle
dealership to offer the consumer coupons, an insurance company using that same segment might infer that
the consumer engages in risky behavior. Similarly, while data brokers have a data category for “Diabetes
Interest” that a manufacturer of sugar‑free products could use to offer product discounts, an insurance
company could use that same category to classify a consumer as higher risk.” (FTC, 2014)
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How Can Risks be Mitigated?
The bene伀氂its of big data in healthcare outweigh the risks which are partially exaggerated perceptions due to
lack of transparency. To mitigate perceived risk, consumers need to be made more aware of the sources and
uses of big data and given more control over their own data. To this aim, several organizations including most
notably the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have identi伀氂ied recommendations.
Currently, there are initial limitations in place for the use of big data in healthcare. In common practice
individual information is collected and analyzed by data brokers who then sell aggregated risk numbers and
related services. This means the purchaser, e.g. insurance company or hospital, doesn’t receive personal
information about consumers, but rather generalizations about populations. As such there is limited risk of
invasion of privacy. For example, "the hospital won't be told that a gym membership lapsed or that 20 pizzas
are being ordered a week, but will solely see that weight gain risk increased.” (Schuman, 2014) Additionally,
some data brokers limit what purposes data can be used for (e.g. marketing) or where it can be incorporated.
For example, Acxiom, one of the largest data brokers, prohibits including its data in medical records. Use
agreements with data brokers also can prohibit purchasers from disclosing details, such as speci伀氂ic
transactions with individuals. (Robertson, 2014)
As mentioned before, considerable scrutiny has been recently place on the big data sources by industry
groups and government agencies alike. This includes the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology (PCAST) which released a report in in May 2014 investigating big data technology and practices to
determine their impact on consumer privacy. They concluded that existing technology is not suf伀氂icient alone
in protecting privacy and that public policy needs to be established according to 伀氂ive recommendations:
(PCAST, 2014)
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Table 1: PCAST Recommendations
Recommendation 1. Policy attention should focus more on the actual uses of big data and less on its collection and analysis.
Recommendation 2 . Policies and regulation, at all levels of government, should not embed particular technological solutions, but rather should be stated in terms of intended outcomes.
Recommendation 3. With coordination and encouragement from OSTP, the NITRD agencies132 should strengthen U.S. research in privacy‑related technologies and in the relevant areas of social science that inform the successful application of those technologies.
Recommendation 4. OSTP, together with the appropriate educational institutions and professional societies, should encourage increased education and training opportunities concerning privacy protection, including professional career paths.
Recommendation 5. The United States should take the lead both in the international arena and at home by adopting policies that stimulate the use of practical privacy‑protecting technologies that exist today. This country can exhibit leadership both by its convening power (for instance, by promoting the creation and adoption of standards) and also by its own procurement practices (such as its own use of privacy‑preserving cloud services).
In addition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also released a report in May 2014 which investigated nine
of the largest data brokers to summarize industry practices and make recommendation to Congress. The FTC
Chairwoman summarized, “The extent of consumer pro伀氂iling today means that data brokers often know as
much – or even more – about us than our family and friends, including our online and in‑store purchases, our
political and religious af伀氂iliations, our income and socioeconomic status, and more. It’s time to bring
transparency and accountability to bear on this industry on behalf of consumers, many of whom are unaware
that data brokers even exist.” The report’s purpose is to help rectify a lack of transparency about data broker
industry practices and recommended to Congress enacting legislation that would enable consumers to learn
more about the activities of data brokers and provide them with access to their own information held by data
brokers. The table below summarizes the FTC’s 伀氂indings and recommendations. (FTC, 2014)
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Table 2: FTC Recommendations
Centralized Portal. Require the creation of a centralized mechanism, such as an Internet portal, where data brokers can identify themselves, describe their information collection and use practices, and provide links to access tools and opt‑ outs
Access. Require data brokers to give consumers access to their data, including any sensitive data, at a reasonable level of detail
OptOuts. Require opt‑out tools, that is, a way for consumers to suppress the use of their data
Inferences. Require data brokers to tell consumers that they derive certain inferences from raw data
Data Sources. Require data brokers to disclose the names and/or categories of their data sources, to enable consumers to correct wrong information with an original source
Notice and Choice. Require consumer‑facing entities – such as retailers – to provide prominent notice to consumers when they share information with data brokers, along with the ability to opt‑out of such sharing
Sensitive Data. Further protect sensitive information, including health information, by requiring retailers and other consumer‑facing entities to obtain af伀氂irmative express consent from consumers before such information is collected and shared with data brokers
When a company uses a data broker’s risk mitigation product to limit a consumers’ ability to complete a transaction, require the consumer‑facing company to tell consumers which data broker’s information the company relied on
Require the data broker to allow consumer access to the information used and the ability to correct it, as appropriate
Require data brokers to allow consumers to access their own information, opt‑out of having the information included in a people search product, disclose the original sources of the information so consumers can correct it, and disclose any limitations of an opt‑out feature
Conclusion:
This paper explores the use, bene伀氂its, risks, and recommendations regarding big data and its application in
healthcare. Based on research from varying sources, this paper concludes that concerns regarding big data,
such as invasion of privacy, are not prohibitive to big data’s use in healthcare as current and future controls,
including those recommended by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), can mitigate these risks.
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Simultaneously, the bene伀氂its of big data continue to grow and drive preventative and personalized care and
improve public health monitoring.
References: David W. Bates, S. S.‑M. (2014). Big Data In Health Care: Using Analytics To Identify And Manage High‑Risk
And High‑Cost Patients. Health Affairs (33), pp. 1123‑1131.
FTC, F. T. (2014). Data Brokers: A Call for Transparency and Accountability. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Google. (n.d.). Google.org . Retrieved August 2014, from Google Flue Trends: http://www.google.org/伀氂lutrends/intl/en_us/
McCann, E. (2014, July 16). What HIPAA doesn't cover . Retrieved August 2014, from Healthcare IT News: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/what‑hipaa‑doesnt‑cover
Monegain, B. (2014, April). Healthcare analytics enters new age . Retrieved August 2014, from Healthcare IT News: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/healthcare‑analytics‑enters‑new‑age
PCAST, P. C. (2014). BIG DATA AND PRIVACY: A Technological Perspective.
Robertson, S. P. (2014, July). Hospitals Are Mining Patients' Credit Card Data to Predict Who Will Get Sick . Retrieved August 2014, from BloomberBusinessweek.com: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014‑07‑03/hospitals‑are‑mining‑patients‑credit‑card‑dat a‑to‑predict‑who‑will‑get‑sick
Sarasohn‑Kahn, J. (2014). Here's Looking at You: How Personal Health Information is Being Tracked and Used. California Healthcare Foundation.
Schuman, E. (2014, July). When analytics falls short . Retrieved August 2014, from Healthcare IT News: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/when‑analytics‑falls‑short
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RPaper PDF/Example 2.pdf
A HEALTH LEVEL 7 INTRODUCTION
8/7/14 HL7
Table of Contents
What is Health Level Seven (HL7)3
History of HL7 4
Key Challenges 5
How Standards Help 6
Where Health Level Seven Went So Right, But Still Wrong7
RIM10
References 11
2
What is Health Level Seven (HL7)?
HL7 stands for “Health Level Seven International” and is an American
Standards National Institute (ANSI) accredited Standards Development Organization
(SDO) whose purpose is the successful interoperability of medical information (i.e.
clinical and administrative Health Care data) between disparate Health
Organization’s information systems for the bene䴀渄it and enhancement of patient care.
HL7 was formed in 1987 with approximately fourteen individuals and has
seen a dramatic growth in participating health care providers and supporting
organization’s. HL7’s name references ‘Level Seven’ which directly infers the
seventh level of the Open Systems Interconnection Model (OSI). “The OSI model is a
conceptual model that characterizes and standardizes the internal functions of a
communication system by partitioning it into abstraction layers.” There are 1
approximately 2,500+ Healthcare organizations, vendor companies, and other
members participating in the HL7 messaging standards process.
HL7 is neither a
hardware component nor a
software package. It is strictly
a standard way of exchanging
health care data by providing
the speci䴀渄ications to
healthcare organizations so
their systems are
interoperable. The most
current version of HL7 is 3.0
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model 3
and resembles the Extensible Markup Language (XML) speci䴀渄ication.
History of HL7
In 1987, fourteen individuals formed HL7 with the sole purpose of building an
interoperable infrastructure to move data between different Health Care Systems in order
for the Health Care Industry could save money and improve patient care. By the early
1980’s, Health Care costs were skyrocketing and the increasing use of computer systems
brought about a hodgepodge of systems throughout the industry. The first group of
volunteers consisted of Clinical Interface Specialists. These specialists were chartered
with moving clinical data by developing the tools and applications required to share and
exchange the data with other Health Care Information Systems.
The Clinical Interface Specialist group consisted of a loose collection of
volunteers who worked on developing the first standard, which became known as V2 in
the early 1990’s. They realized early on that the costs of interfacing many different
application interfaces was increasingly expense and more complex than the industry
could successfully handle. During the 1980’s, each application designed was built with
its own data exchange specification in mind. Each hospital had many different
application systems, which meant the Clinical Interface Specialists had to create new
interfaces to make even their own hospitals applications exchange data correctly. This
scheme quickly drove up the Hospitals Information Technology costs and created
4
bottlenecks of information in disparate systems. This resulted in less quality care for
patients and higher medical bills for all.
Key Challenges faced by Health Care Providers
There are multiple factors that helped play a role in the early adoption of a standard
for Health Care Data exchange. They are 2
● Safety, effectiveness, and costs by not having the right data at the right place and
time
● Presentation of disparate healthcare information at the point of treatment
● Increased costs in transferring paper records
Everyone, including individuals and the government, can realize the increased
costs in Healthcare from year to year. The costs of Healthcare have increased
dramatically over the last 30 years, with Information Technology proposed as one of its
possible saviors. The costs of Healthcare have increased at a steady rate since 1960 and
are expected to balloon by 2020:
“If patients’ information were saved across health care
settings so that personal health information seamlessly
followed any patient through various settings of care $77
Billion would be saved annually.” 3
The ‘flattening’ of data systems throughout the industry will be a key factor in bringing
2 http://www.hl7.org 3 http://www.slideshare.net/BarrySmith3/ethics‑informaticsobamacare
5
costs down and patient care up. Since the 1980’s when a patient moved from one area to
another they had their patient records on paper, not in electronic format. At each patient
care facility they had to pay for the input and output of their individual records. By not
paying the provider to input or output the data, Doctors were at a disadvantage by not
having a complete medical history for the patient. This incomplete record meant
diagnosis for diseases and other medical conditions went unnoticed until it was more
serious; another factor that drives medical costs. As a patient, if one has their medical
information transferred electronically wherever and whenever they need care, Doctors are
able to more easily diagnosis and provide higher quality care to the patient. This higher
quality care can be realized over time as a cost savings to the industry.
Figure 2 Health Care as a Share of GDP
How Standards Help
6
Standards are nothing new to the Health Care Industry. For years, the industry
has used standards in almost everything it has done including standards for medical
utensils, medications, diagnosis, patient confidentiality, etc. The world has used standards
for generations as a basis for
● Safety and reliability
● Interoperability
● Business benefits to include driving costs down
● And Consumer choice
HL7 uses standards to ensure interoperability between various healthcare
information systems. By using standards in message exchange formats, HL7 is helping
to create a Global Health Information Network. HL7’s first ‘usable’ version, then called
2.1, was released in 1990. The adoption of HL7 didn’t come to fruition until around 1998
when there were a considerable amount of vendors developing their products to use HL7
V2.x as a messaging format. This acceptance by Healthcare vendors and providers
allowed the HL7 to become the de facto standard at that time.
HL7 grew from version 2.0 in 1989 to 2.1 in 1990, then on through to 2.3 in 1997
and 2.3.1 in 1999. Each new version also allowed for backwards compatibility. By
enforcing backwards compatibility, this meant vendors were able to update their own
products to using the new standards and sell updated products more in isolation because
Healthcare providers didn’t have to upgrade everything at once, or worry about installing
all new systems if they chose a new system by another vendor. This approach not only
helped Healthcare providers save money, but time and money in Information Technology
7
training and development, and improved patient care by allowing previous data to be
exchanged with newer systems.
Where Health Level Seven Went So Right, But Still Wrong
While HL7 version 2.x ran successfully from 1998 through the mid 2000’s, it’s a
standard that still used a basic text format without following the industry standard of
transferring data interchangeable. The HL7 standard allowed the Healthcare Industry to
derive a standard of data interchange amongst themselves, with the obvious benefits of a
wider Electronic Health Record assimilation amongst the industry. However, in 2005
HL7 introduced the newest version, 3.0. This version was adopted officially in 2006 and
became the new HL7 standard. The success of V2.x systems and its backwards
compatibility was about to come to a halt.
With V3.0, the structure of the message standard has changed dramatically.
Version 3.x is now using the same message exchange format that the Internet is changing
to, called Extensible Markup Language (XML). While there are numerous languages
used on the Internet for different purposes, which is well beyond the scope of this paper,
8
XML is a common standard on the Internet and allows users to create tags and define
information about their tags on their own. This capability is different than most other
languages on the Internet. HTML for example, has its own predefined tags and is a
stricter type language where XML is free flowing and allows creation of tags to suit the
topic at hand. The XML language allows a person, organization, etc. to develop their
own tags and associated style sheet for how their tags are to be interpreted and displayed.
Essentially, XML now transfers data about the data being sent, called metadata. XML
also allows complex relationships such as inheritance to be communicated. Figure 4
shows an example XML type message using HL7 coding standards.
HL7 V3 is more of an industry standard than V2. The notable differences above
are positive changes for V3. However, some of the changes from V2 to V3 are not being
seen as overly positive. For example, the change from V2 format for messages, although
a standard within the Healthcare Industry, is now no longer compatible with the new
standard of 3.0. The new standard does not read V2 messages and vice versa. This basic
lack interoperability within its own HL7 messaging scheme has significantly slowed
progress in migration from V2 to V3. Also, Version 3 introduces much less message
optionality making it a stricter type written language. Industry experts vs. the Clinical
Interface Specialists also developed version 3 over a period of 10 years. Version 3 will
also be very expensive to implement and will take a much longer time because of the
retooling required. 4
4 http://www.corepointhealth.com/whitepapers/evolution‑hl7 9
RIM
The HL7’s V3 Reference Information Model (RIM) forms the foundation of all
modeling within HL7. The RIM is made up of a collection of classes that can be used in
modeling the HL7 messages. The classes represent entities commonly found within the
Clinical Domain setting, such as Person, Employee, Act, Role, Participation,
Observation, etc. Following is a pictorial view of the RIM entities.
10
References
11
RPaper PDF/Past Research Topics.pdf
Past Research Topics
The role of health informa꛶�on and data management in pa꛶�ent care
Personal ac꛶�vity monitors and health data regula꛶�ons
Innova꛶�ons in Healthcare Data Management
Challenges Surrounding Health IT Implementa꛶�on
BYOD: How is it impac꛶�ng Healthcare?
An examina꛶�on of NoSQL databases in healthcare
XML Database Technology in Healthcare Informa꛶�cs
RPaper PDF/Research Paper Guidelines.pdf
Research Paper Guidelines For the research paper, the following components should be there. 1. A description of the research question. Why is this question important? A brief description of how this research question will be addressed in the paper. 2. Some background related to the research question. Based on your reading (research), what is generally known about the research question. This is the section where literature related to the research question is reviewed. 3. A description of the methodology (case analysis / data collection / literature survey etc.) used to address the research question. 4. A description of the results. 5. Conclusion. How well has the research question been answered. Summarize what you have found out. Indicate what else can be done about this research topic. 6. There should be a list of references at the end of the paper. In the body of the text, the papers should be referenced with first author’s name and the publication year e.g. (Richardson, 1998). Here are some examples of how references may be listed.
1. Nissen H.W., W. M.A. Jeusfeld, M. Jarke, G.V. Zemanek, and H. Huber, “Managing Multiple
Requirements Perspectives with Metamodels,” IEEE Software , Volume 13, no. 3, 1996, pp.
3748.
2. Hoque, F., “eEnterprise, Business Models, Architecture and Components,” Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 2000.
3. Schneider, G. and J. Perry, “Electronic Commerce,” Course Technology, Cambridge, MA,
2000.
7. Use tables and figures liberally. 8. The paper should not exceed 10 pages 1.5 spaced 10 point font (excluding references, figures, and tables).