Year 2 goes beyond basic image acquisition, addressing such concerns as patient information reconciliation, nonroutine data handling, and diagnostic and care processes. Now we want to expand to HIS, EMR, and clinical systems. For example, the 32 companies participating in the Year 2 demo at the RSNA meeting showcased the seven integration profiles that have been developed within IHE so far. In particular, the Scheduled Workflow integration profile, which forms the IHE workflow foundation, was demonstrated across a set of almost 70 imaging and information systems, including HIS, RIS, PACS, modalities, and workstations. Attendees realized that IHE is no longer a dream but a concrete capability they can expect from their vendors for both information and imaging systems.
Challenges remain, however.
Within radiology, much of the functionality required to interface RIS and PACS to enterprise information systems still needs to be made real, according to Carr. True standardized reporting, for example, which is a necessary underpinning of any electronic patient record, is still in its infancy. In addition, most IS and IT vendors are still not participating in the IHE demos. The 2001 annual meeting program includes much more IHE material than last year. When we have more involvement from other specialties, it will put more pressure on the IT companies to come to the table.