Addressing interoperability in e-health: an Australian approach

This paper describes the use of the ISO ODP family of standards [1][2][3] to address interoperability issues in the Australian e-health environment. The Australian health system has a specific institutional structure and funding model involving a combination of federal, state, territory and local government jurisdictions along with the private sector. This arrangement requires a thorough understanding of legislation, regulation and other policies, as well as governance models and the collaborative nature of healthcare businesses to inform the building of interoperable and sustainable IT systems. The aim is to provide better, safer and more efficient service delivery than what current silo-based approaches deliver. The ODP standards provide a valuable conceptual basis for addressing diversity, richness and evolvability of such a complex system, embracing both human actors and IT systems. The ODP Enterprise Language provides core concepts for describing the organisational context for ehealth systems, while the ODP-RM architecture framework allows for the description of various e-health stakeholders¿ concerns, from organisational, information and technical perspectives. Further value of the standard comes from rigorous conformance and compliance guidelines.