IHE Connectathon 2009 to include HITSP participation.
Press Release Summary:
IHE Connectathon is healthcare IT industry's only large-scale interoperability testing event. For February 2009 Connectathon, IHE is providing support and opportunities for vendors to register and indicate their desire to demonstrate ability to support Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel Interoperability Specifications and associated constructs. HITSP ISs currently reference 18 IHE profiles from across Patient Care Coordination, Laboratory, and IT Technical Frameworks.
Original Press Release:
IHE Connectathon 2009 to Include Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) Participation
The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Connectathon is the healthcare IT industry's only large-scale interoperability testing event. During the Connectathon, systems exchange information with complementary systems from multiple vendors, performing all of the transactions required for the roles they have selected. Connectathons are held annually in Asia, Europe and North America.
For the February 2009 Connectathon, IHE is providing additional support and opportunities for vendors to register and indicate their desire to demonstrate the ability to support the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) Interoperability Specifications (ISs) and associated constructs. The HITSP ISs currently reference 18 IHE profiles from across the Patient Care Coordination, Laboratory and IT Technical Frameworks. A number of these are used with minimal or no additional guidance from HITSP, while others carry additional constraints as determined by the HITSP Technical Committees.
"IHE's commitment to HITSP ISs will take interoperability to a new level of collaboration," said Joyce Sensmeier, vice president, Informatics, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
The Connectathon provides detailed validation of the participants' interoperability and compliance with IHE profiles along with the opportunity to also validate support for the additional HITSP constraints. Participating companies prepare for the event using testing software - the MESA test tools - developed for this purpose. It offers vendors a unique opportunity for connectivity testing removing barriers to integration that would otherwise have to be dealt with on site, at the customer's expense. Companies taking part have responded overwhelmingly that the IHE process addresses important issues in their product development plans.
Connectathon registration opened August 26, 2008 and will close on September 30, 2008. Detailed information for participants in the Connectathon is available here: http://ihe.net/north_america/connectathon2009.cfm
