Towards An XML-Based Normalization for Healthcare Data Exchanges

Problem statement: Most of healthcare data exchanges are textual, poorly structured and often not accessible by clinical professionals. Otherwise, the variety of medical applications and medical standards makes difficult sharing and communicating healthcare data in a highly heterogeneous environment. Approach: XML and related standards (XML schema, XSL) provided an infrastructure that might change the situation. Our aim in this study was to define an exchange model providing a common structure of shared healthcare data to allow a better, easier and structured communication within and between hospital information systems. Results: We realized an XML-based model that we detailed the content and the structure. Thus, seen the confidential character of healthcare data, we described an approach to secure the data transfer. We were situated regarding existing models and standards such as HL7, DICOM and the PMSI and we took into account critics made for them. Conclusion/Recommendations: The model we proposed provide a practical solution allowing a secure and structured healthcare data exchange and will serve as a summary version of the common computerized patient record.