Overview
The IBM Research Lab in Haifa (HRL) offers a Healthcare and Life Sciences Standards - Education & Services Practice, based on its expertise and continuous involvement in Healthcare and Life Sciences (HCLS) standards. One of the focal points of this practice is HL7 Standards, and in particular the new V3 family of specifications. These specifications represent a quantum leap in the development methodology for healthcare standards, and have resulted in the HL7 RIM, a central reference information model from which all HL7 V3 specifications are derived.
IBM HCLS solutions in general and in particular those where the Haifa HCLS group is involved, incorporate intensive use of medical standards such as HL7 V2 and HL7 V3 (including the Clinical Document Architecture), as well as DICOM and IHE XDS (Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing) profile.
While HL7, DICOM, and IHE currently represent the bulk of existing healthcare standards, the Haifa group is directing efforts towards studying and implementing new standards. HRL is involved in harmonizing specifications for European Electronic Health Records (EHR) standards with HL7 specifications. Researchers in Haifa are also involved in implementations of life science standards, such as MAGE for gene expression data and BSML for biological sequencing.
Dr. Amnon Shabo (Shvo), who leads the standardization activities in HRL, is co-chair and modeling facilitator for the Clinical Genomics SIG in HL7. He serves as co-editor of the ANSI-approved CDA Release Two standard specification, and is the co-editor of the Continuity-of-Care Document (CDA-base implementation of ASTM CCR - Continuity-of-Care Record). Amnon is also part of the IBM HCLS Standards Team covering all major HCLS standards.
The Haifa HCLS standards practice includes education and services. It currently offers a variety of education options from general lectures on HCLS standards to focused tutorials on specific standard specifications of interest to extensive workshops focusing mainly on HL7 standards, including hands-on experience using HL7 development tooling. The practice also extends help to IBM employees and IBM customers when dealing with project requirements for HCLS standards compliance. The Haifa practice can help project teams at various levels, from active participation in the requirements phase, through the transfer of skills to the teams, the use of the IBM HCLS solutions, and at the most involved level--the development and customization of software components to meet project requirements.
For more details, please contact Amnon Shabo at: shabo@il.ibm.com.
