Using openEHR in XDS.b Environments - Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

The HiGHmed research project as part of Germany's Medical Informatics Initiative aims to establish Medical Data Integration Centers (MeDIC) at each participating institution to integrate data of multiple primary information systems in a single place. The MeDICs are based on an IHE XDS.b Affinity Domain in conjunction with an openEHR clinical data repository. This paper presents two ways of storing and retrieving structured and semantically annotated data from an openEHR repository whilst keeping data integrated in an existing IHE XDS.b infrastructure. Furthermore, the paper discusses multiple benefits of the presented approach as well as challenges and corresponding solutions.

Keywords: HiGHmed; IHE; XDS.b; openEHR.