IHE seeks comments on Mobile Access to Health Documents
The Mobile Access to Health Documents (MHD) profile has been released for public comment, according to Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) International.
The MHD implementation guide enables simplified access to health documents for patients and providers using mobile devices. Documents can be delivered to the device using a patient portal, EHR, personal health record or via a health information exchange (HIE). The guide builds on earlier work from IHE enabling exchange of documents in HIEs, which is currently adopted in numerous countries, including the Nationwide Health Information Network.
Recognizing the limitations of many mobile devices, the guide describes a simplified application programming interface (API) supporting access to health documents. The API is based on web-accessible resources using RESTful approaches to query for metadata on health documents.
It leverages metadata concepts found in earlier IHE and HL7 specifications, but makes it easier to express in web-enabled devices and applications they commonly use.
“This work is essential if we are to create effective mobile health tools,” said Gerald Beuchelt, principal information security engineer at MITRE, in a release. “Industry is moving forward to augment the existing standard with a RESTful alternative based on recommendations from the HIT Standards Committee. In order to maintain consistent semantics across initiatives, we are building off existing architecture, such as hData, which for the last few years focused on crafting light weight exchange protocols with simplified data to represent content.”
Access the MHD profile on IHE’s website.
The MHD implementation guide enables simplified access to health documents for patients and providers using mobile devices. Documents can be delivered to the device using a patient portal, EHR, personal health record or via a health information exchange (HIE). The guide builds on earlier work from IHE enabling exchange of documents in HIEs, which is currently adopted in numerous countries, including the Nationwide Health Information Network.
Recognizing the limitations of many mobile devices, the guide describes a simplified application programming interface (API) supporting access to health documents. The API is based on web-accessible resources using RESTful approaches to query for metadata on health documents.
It leverages metadata concepts found in earlier IHE and HL7 specifications, but makes it easier to express in web-enabled devices and applications they commonly use.
“This work is essential if we are to create effective mobile health tools,” said Gerald Beuchelt, principal information security engineer at MITRE, in a release. “Industry is moving forward to augment the existing standard with a RESTful alternative based on recommendations from the HIT Standards Committee. In order to maintain consistent semantics across initiatives, we are building off existing architecture, such as hData, which for the last few years focused on crafting light weight exchange protocols with simplified data to represent content.”
Access the MHD profile on IHE’s website.
Beth Walsh,
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.