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Glossary and Acronyms

Glossary

 

  • American National Standards Institute (ANSI) facilitates the development of American National Standards (ANS) by accrediting the procedures of standards developing organizations (SDOs). These groups work cooperatively to develop voluntary national consensus standards. Accreditation by ANSI signifies that the procedures used by the standards body in connection with the development of American National Standards meet the Institute’s essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus and due process. http://www.ansi.org/

 

  • Application Programming Interface (API) is a particular set of rules and specifications that a software program can follow to access and make use of the services and resources provided by another particular software program that implements that API. http://en.wikipedia.org

 

  • Artifact is a classifier that represents some physical entity, a piece of information that is used or is produced by a software development process, or by deployment and operation of a system. A particular instance (or "copy") of an artifact is deployed to a node instance.

 

  • Attributes of a data class or module are aspects, properties, features, characteristics, or parameters that objects (and classes) can have.

 

  • Binding is the association of a medical term with a terminology or code system or value set, such as SNOMED, LOINC, RxNorm terminology systems and codes.

 

  • Biomedical Research Integrated Domain Group (BRIDG) Model is a collaborative effort engaging stakeholders from the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC), the HL7 Regulated Clinical Research Information Management Technical Committee (RCRIM TC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and its Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG®), and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The BRIDG model is an instance of a Domain Analysis Model (DAM). The goal of the BRIDG Model is to produce a shared view of the dynamic and static semantics for the domain of protocol-driven research and its associated regulatory artifacts. (http://www.bridgmodel.org)

 

  • Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) provides businesses with the capability of understanding their internal business procedures in a graphical notation and gives organizations the ability to communicate these procedures in a standard manner. Furthermore, the graphical notation facilitates the understanding of the performance collaborations and business transactions between the organizations. This will ensure that businesses will understand themselves and participants in their business and will enable organizations to adjust to new internal and B2B business circumstances quickly.

 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. It works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through partnerships with state health departments and other organizations. The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease prevention and control (especially infectious diseases), environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, injury prevention and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States. (Wikipedia)

 

  • Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization with the public mission of accelerating the adoption of health IT.  Founded in 2004, and certifying electronic health records (EHRs) since 2006, the Commission established the first comprehensive, practical definition of what capabilities were needed in these systems.  The certification criteria were developed through a voluntary, consensus-based process engaging diverse stakeholders, and the Certification Commission was officially recognized by the federal government as a certifying body. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certification_Commission_for_Healthcare_Information_Technology

 

  • Classes (in information modeling) are sets, collections, concepts, types of objects, or kinds of things.

 

 

  • Common Product Model (CPM) is an overarching domain information model relating to the HL7 v3 modeling of any kind (or instance) of a 'product'. The definition of the term product is intentionally kept loose at this point, but includes: 
    • Anything else a person can be exposed to
    • Devices used in medical services 
    • Medications, including vaccines

 

  • Computationally Independent Model (CIM) is a model which is not geared to any specific operating system or computer language

 

  • Concept is a cognitive unit of meaning — an abstract idea or a mental symbol -- sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge," built from other units which act as a concept's characteristics. 

 

  • Consistent implies acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be traceable to legislation, policies, stakeholder requirements, with the same semantic meaning. 

 

  • Constraint is an expression of a business rule applied to an Information Exchange. It can restrict the values that appear within the exchange in a variety of different ways, and appears in both HITSP Specifications and in the standards those specifications select.

 

  • Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)is a US government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense. (Wikipedia)

 

  • Domainis a set of classes, attributes and relationships that describe a subject area or UML package.

 

  • Domain Model is a conceptual model of a system which describes the various entities involved in that system and their relationships. In UML modeling, a class diagram is used to represent the domain model.

 

  • Domain Specific Language (DSL) is a programming language or specification language dedicated to a particular problem domain, a particular problem representation technique, and/or a particular solution technique.

 

  • Draft Standards for Trial Use (DSTU) allow implementers to test the standards. At the end of the trial period the standard may be balloted, revised or withdrawn.

 

  • Dynamic Binding or dynamically bound value sets have their definitions fixed, but the values in the set may vary as new versions of the code system on which they are based are released.  Intensional logic (of a predicate) incapable of explanation solely in terms of the set of objects to which it is applicable; requiring explanation in terms of meaning or understanding. (See also the definition for Extensional Value Set.)  See also opaque context, where, value sets are often dynamically bound. (Source: HITSP)

 

  • ECCF is the HL7 Service Aware Interoperability Framework (SAIF) Enterprise Compliance and Conformance Framework, which is based on the ISO RM ODP International Standards Organization Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing. 

 

  • EHR System Functional Model (EHR-S FM) provides a reference list of over 160 functions that may be present in an Electronic Health Record System (EHR-S). The function list is described from a user perspective with the intent to enable consistent expression of system functionality. This EHR-S Functional Model, through the creation of Functional Profiles, enables a standardized description and common understanding of functions sought or available in a given setting (e.g. intensive care, cardiology, office practice in one country or primary care in another country). Source: http://www.hl7.org/ehr/downloads/index_2007.asp)

 

  • Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, radiology reports, etc. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician's workflow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter - as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface - including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting. (source: HIMSS)

 

  • Element in UML is an item in a UML information model (e.g., class, data attribute, relationship, etc.).

 

  • Encoded Information diseases, procedures, and/or demographic data and other information may be coded into discrete categories, identified by codes which may be numeric, alphabetic or a combination of these. In computer-based systems, this eases retrieval and simplifies analysis. In healthcare, 'encoded' may refer to clinical conditions or interventions coded into specific coding systems for administrative, financial, and other analyses. Among the most common coding systems are the International Classifications of Diseases (see ICD) and Current Procedural Terminology (see CPT). Another approach to coding is atomic coding, which involves assigning a value to each position in the code. (A simple example would be "35yoF " meaning "35 year old female.") Such coding systems, of which SNOMED is the most well-known, are more flexible than hierarchical classifications, but may be more difficult to use. (Source: HITSP)

 

  • Entity is a thing which is recognized as being capable of an independent existence and which can be uniquely identified. An entity is an abstraction from the complexities of some subject area. When we speak of an entity we normally speak of some aspect of the real world which can be distinguished from other aspects of the real world.  Entities may be physical objects or concepts.  In a UML model, entities are represented as classes.

 

  • Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. (Source: HITSP)

 

  • Extensional Value Set definition is an enumeration of all of the concepts within the value set. [Adapted from HL7 Version 3 Core Principals] Value sets defined by extension are composed of explicitly enumerated sets of concept representations (with the code system in which they are valid). The simplest case is when the value set consists of only one code. (Source: HITSP)

 

  • Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is the Enterprise Architecture of a Federal Government. It provides a common methodology for information technology (IT) acquisition, use, and disposal in the Federal government. (Wikipedia)

 

  • Federal Health Architecture (FHA) was an E-Government Line of Business initiative managed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. The FHA office was formed to coordinate health IT activities among the more than 20 federal agencies that provide health and healthcare services to US citizens. FHA was sunset at the end of FY2019 (hhs.gov)

 

  • Federal Health Information Model (FHIM) is a modeling initiative focused on producing a logical, health information model that supports semantic interoperability among federal agencies and their health information exchange partners. The model is built by harmonizing information from federal partners and standards development organizations (SDOs) and presenting it in logical and conceptual views based on specialized health domains.  

 

  • This logical model uses the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM) as a reference model and is designed to support multiple Office of National Coordinator initiatives, including TEFCA and USCDI. FHA and its stakeholders also use the FHIM to view and analyze information exchanges that have been identified by federal partners and SDOs, and the FHIM model is also used to support the development of National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) compliant information exchanges.

 

  • Federal Segment Architecture Methodology (FSAM) is a step-by-step process for developing and using segment architectures that was developed by distilling proven best practices from across Federal agencies. Use of the FSAM should result in more complete and consistent segment architecture products and will result in greater reuse of segment architectures by providing key information that informs downstream processes for capital planning, security (e.g. certification and accreditation), and the system development life cycle. (fsam.gov)

 

  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), veterinary products, and cosmetics.

 

  • Harmonization is the name given to the effort by industry to replace the variety of product standards and other regulatory policies adopted by nations, in favor of uniform global standards. Usually used in the context of trade agreements, harmonization has recently been adopted by the United States government to refer to information technology standards.

 

  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (P.L.104-191) [HIPAA] was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. It was originally sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website, Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.

 

  • Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) was a cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors. The Panel was formed for the purpose of harmonizing and integrating standards that meet clinical and business needs for sharing information among organizations and systems.  (Source: HITSP)

 

  • HL7 Individual Case Safety Report (ICSR) is a Health Level Seven (HL7) standard for the exchange of adverse event or product problem reports to public health, patient safety, healthcare quality improvement organizations or regulatory authorities. Release 1 of the standard supports reporting for drugs, therapeutic biologics, blood derivatives, devices and vaccines. Release 2 of the standard is being balloted to support other product types such as foods, food additives, dietary supplements, cosmetics and veterinary drugs. (HL7.org)

 

  • HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM) is the cornerstone of the HL7 Version 3 development process. An object model created as part of the Version 3 methodology, the RIM is a large, pictorial representation of the HL7 clinical data (domains) and identifies the life cycle that a message or groups of related messages will carry. It is a shared model between all domains and, as such, is the model from which all domains create their messages. The RIM is an ANSI approved standard. http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/rim.cfm

 

  • Information Exchange is bidirectional information transmission/information transfer in telecommunications and computer science

 

 

  • Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD) is a NIEM specification consisting of a collection of artifacts that describe the construction and content of an information exchange.
    • Created with a core set of artifacts in a prescribed format and organizational structure to allow for consistency
    • Designed to be shared and reused in the development of new information exchanges through publication in IEPD repositories
    • Developed to provide the business, functional, and technical details of the information exchange through predefined artifacts
    • IEPDs contain design specifications for an information exchange but may not include supplementary information such as implementation decisions. http://www.niem.gov/whatIsAnIepd.php

 

  • Information Model, in software engineering, is a representation of concepts, relationships, constraints, rules and operations to specify data semantics for a chosen domain of discourse. It can provide sharable, stable, and organized structures of information requirements for domain context.

 

  • Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care.  http://www.ihe.net/

 

  • International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. On the one hand, many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations. http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html

 

  • Interoperability is the ability of health information systems to work together within and across organizational boundaries, in order to advance the effective delivery of health care for individuals and communities. (Source: HITSP)

 

  • Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) is a set of laboratory terms that provide a standard set of universal names and codes for identifying individual laboratory and clinical results, and allows users to merge clinical results from many sources into one database for patient care, clinical research, or management. (Source: HITSP)

 

  • Metamodeling, or meta-modelingin software engineering and systems engineering among other disciplines, is the analysis, construction and development of the frames, rules, constraints, models and theories applicable and useful for modeling a predefined class of problems. As its name implies, this concept applies the notions of meta- and modeling. (Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamodeling#Metadata_modeling)

 

  • Military Health System (MHS) is the enterprise within the United States Department of Defense responsible for providing health care to active duty and retired U.S. Military personnel and their dependents. http://www.health.mil/

 

  • Model Package Description is a compressed archive of files that contains one and only one of the four classes of NIEM IEMs, as well as supporting documentation and artifacts. http://www.niem.gov/newsletter201102.php

 

  • Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) is a software design approach for the development of software systems. It provides a set of guidelines for the structuring of specifications, which are expressed as models. Model-driven architecture is a kind of domain engineering, and supports model-driven engineering of software systems. It was launched by the Object Management Group (OMG) in 2001.

 

  • Model-Driven Health Tools (MDHT). This project focuses on the development and promotion of model-driven Health Information standards within the standards community by providing a unified set of modeling tools for standards organizations and standard implementers to design, publish, and implement standards such as Clinical Document Architecture all from a UML model. https://www.projects.openhealthtools.org/sf/projects/mdht/

 

  • National Cancer Institute (NCI)is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S. National Cancer Program and conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other activities related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer; the supportive care of cancer patients and their families; and cancer survivorship.

 

  • National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) is a Federal, State, Local and Tribal interagency initiative providing a foundation for seamless information exchange. (Source: http://www.niem.gov/)

 

  • Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) is a set of standards, services and policies that enable secure health information exchange over the Internet. The network provides a foundation for the exchange of health information across diverse entities, within communities and across the country, helping to achieve the goals of the HITECH Act. This critical part of the national health IT agenda enables health information to follow the consumer, be available for clinical decision making, and supports appropriate use of healthcare information beyond direct patient care so as to improve population health. (Source: http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&mode=2&cached=true&objID=1142)

 

  • Object Identifier (OID) is an identifier used to name an object (compare URN). Structurally, an OID consists of a node in a hierarchically-assigned namespace, formally defined using the ITU-T's ASN.1 standard. (Wikipedia)

 

  • Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is at the forefront of the administration’s health IT efforts and is a resource to the entire health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve health care.  ONC is organizationally located within the Office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__home/1204

 

  • Platform Definition Model (PDM)defines the rules to transform the PIM into a PSM.

 

  • Platform Independent Model (PIM) is a logical model of a software or business system independent of the specific technological platform used to implement it.

 

  • Platform Specific Model (PSM) is an implementation model of a software or business system that is linked to a specific technological platform (e.g. a specific programming language, operating system or database).

 

  • President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a US council, established by Executive Order 13226 on September 30, 2001, with a broad mandate to advise the President on science and technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCAST

 

  • Query/View/Transformation (QVT), in the model-driven architecture, is a standard for model transformation defined by the Object Management Group. (Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QVT)

 

  • Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a family of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications originally designed as a metadata data model. It has come to be used as a general method for conceptual description or modeling of information that is implemented in web resources, using a variety of syntax formats. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework)

 

  • Schema Subset Generation Tool (SSGT) enables users to search through the NIEM data model and build a NIEM subset. The NIEM data model covers several domains and typically the entire data model not is usable in an exchange. It is useful to make a schema subset of NIEM components to use in an exchange. It helps to limit the scope of developing an IEPD and can be built to the specific requirements of an exchange. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Information_Exchange_Model#Schema_Subset_Generation_Tool

 

  • Semantic Model Metadata Mapping is the ability to define the structural constraints that allow the semantic meaning of one model to be mapped to another.

 

  • Semantic Model Metadata refers to the key words and stereotypes that are added to the FHIM to support generating target implementations (e.g., CDA R2 document model, NIEM extensions, HL7 V3 XSD, HL7 Version 2 XML profiles, as well as other technologies).

 

  • Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a flexible set of design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration. A deployed SOA-based architecture will provide a loosely-integrated suite of services that can be used within multiple business domains. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service-oriented_architecture)

 

  • Standards and Interoperability (S&I Framework) is used by ONC to manage the implementation of specifications and the harmonization of existing health IT standards to promote interoperability nationwide. The S&I Framework supports the entire specification lifecycle, from identifying the need for specifications through to creating/harmonizing standards and testing for compliance. The Framework, within each phase of the specification, supports coordinating efforts among public and private sector stakeholders as they work together to: develop content and technical specifications; develop reusable tools and services; and unite stakeholders around common healthcare challenges.

 

  • Standards Development Organizations (SDO) is any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise maintaining technical standards that address the interests of a wide base of users outside the standard-developing organization. (Wikipedia)

 

  • Static Binding is where the values in the value set are fixed until a new version of the value set is released.  Extensional Value Sets are typically statically bound.  When an intensional value set is statically bound, the version of the code system being used must be specified before the members of the value set can be computed.

 

  • Structured Product Labeling (SPL) is a document markup standard approved by Health Level Seven (HL7) and adopted by FDA as a mechanism for exchanging product information. (fda.gov)

 

  • Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) is a structured nomenclature and classification of the terminology used in human and veterinary medicine developed by the College of Pathologists and American Veterinary Medical Association. Terms are applied to one of eleven independent systematized modules.

 

  • Terminology Binding is a formally expressible connection between an information model and a terminology representation of a clinical statement represented in an EHR (Source: OpenEHR)

 

  • Terminology Model is a collection of terminology artifacts that, together, support defining the terminology constraints that can apply in standard specifications. The specific types of artifacts that a terminology model may contain include:
    • Binding Realms and Context Bindings
    • Code Systems, Code Translations and Code System Supplements 
    • Concept Domains and Value Sets 

 

  • UML Profile in the Unified Modeling Language (UML) provides a generic extension mechanism for customizing UML models for particular domains and platforms. Extension mechanisms allow refining standard semantics in a strictly additive manner, so that they can't contradict standard semantics.  A UML profile consists of Stereotype, Constraint, Tag Definition and Data Type elements. 

 

  • United States Department of Defense (USDOD, DOD or DoD, initially briefly referred to as the National Military Establishment or NME) is the U.S. federal department allocated the largest level of budgetary resources and charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the United States armed forces. The Department of Defense is an evolution of the Department of War. The organization and functions of the DoD are set forth in Title 10 of the United States Code. (Wikipedia)

 

  • Universal Modeling Language (UML) is an ISO (International Standard) specification, graphical visualization language for modeling objects. It's a refinement of earlier Object Oriented Design and Object Oriented Analysis methodologies. It consists of a series of symbols and connectors that can be used to create process diagrams and is often used to model computer programs and workflows.

 

  • Veterans Health Administration Health Information Model (VHIM) is the authoritative enterprise information model for Veterans Health Administration (VHA), representing the structure and content of all shared information that is exchanged across the enterprise. http://www.va.gov/VHIM/

 

  • Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies. The languages are characterized by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web. OWL is endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)[1] and has attracted academic, medical and commercial interest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Ontology_Language

 

  • XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) is an Object Management Group (OMG) standard for exchanging metadata information via Extensible Markup Language (XML). It can be used for any metadata where the metamodel can be expressed in Meta-Object Facility (MOF). The most common use of XMI is as an interchange format for UML models, although it can also be used for serialization of models of other languages (metamodels). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMI

 

  • XML schemais a description of a type of XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed by XML itself. These constraints are generally expressed using some combination of grammatical rules governing the order of elements, Boolean predicates that the content must satisfy, data types governing the content of elements and attributes, and more specialized rules such as uniqueness and referential integrity constraints. (Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_schema)

 

Acronyms