Fundamental components for the realization of a federated Integrated Electronic Health Record environment

The Integrated Electronic Health Record (I-EHR) is a term used to describe the whole set of information that exists in electronic form and is related to the personal health of an individual. Any approach towards I-EHR focuses on the needs of professionals or citizens who want a uniform way of accessing parts of personal health record information that is physically located in disparate information sources. Any I-EHR end-user environment must provide fast, secure and authorized access to the distributed fragments of the electronic patient record (EPR) originating at multiple clinical information systems, and to deliver them in a multitude of formats. The importance of such an environment becomes apparent when used in conjunction with a number of advanced telematic services, such as medical collaboration, home care monitoring, and/or health emergency services, to provide seamless care without visible organizational boundaries.