integrating the healthcare enterprise (medical) (IHE)

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) is an initiative launched in 1998 to develop a framework for sharing vital health information across systems and applications.

The holistic IHE approach targets all healthcare organizations and institutions, research institutes, ministries, clinics, hospitals, health insurers and practices, and includes workflow organization and the organizational structures of national healthcare systems.

The IHE does not develop new standards, but drives the use of existing standards in relation to specific clinical needs. The IHE profiles specify how and in what way existing standards can meet the specified requirements, avoid ambiguities, reduce configuration and interface costs, and increase interoperability. In addition, the IHE concept defines the multi- domain profiles for radiology, cardiology, laboratory technology and IT infrastructure.