MO‐A‐M100F‐01: Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) in Radiation Oncology: Will It Help You?

Initiated in 2005, Integrating the Healthcare Environment for Radiation Oncology (IHE‐RO) is a multi‐society, multi‐vendor effort to improve the safety, reliability, and integration of computer and information systems within the radiation oncology arena. IHE‐RO works to accomplish this by coordinating the use of standards such as DICOM and HL7 to effectively exchange information between diverse computer systems involved in the process of planning and delivery of radiation therapy treatments. It attempts to remove ambiguity where it exists in these standards by defining consensus profiles to solve real‐world situations. Each IHE domain (radiology, cardiology, radiation oncology, …) identifies areas where improvements need to be made in the sharing / exchange of information between disparate systems. An IHE Planning Committee then defines a real‐world use case illustrating this process and a trial Integration Profile for improving it. This profile is then discussed by the Technical Committee, which defines the specific standards and methods for exchanging information that will be used to satisfy the needs of the profile and use case. Finally, the Integration Profile and detailed implementation specifics are published in the domain's Technical Frameworks documentation. Once published, those vendors participating in the IHE process develop / refine products to meet the Integration Profile's requirements. Testing occurs via test tools developed for the profiles and then demonstrated in a formal Connectathon, held under the auspices of the society sponsoring the domain. Companies that successfully demonstrate their compliance with the profile are then included in a public demonstration, held at the society's annual meeting. The complete process from profile initiation to public demonstration typically takes 20–24 months. In this session, the progress of the IHE‐RO effort will be reviewed. The profile selected for demonstration at the ASTRO 2007 Annual Meeting will be discussed. The proposed profiles for 2008 will be compared, and the rationale for those selected for inclusion in the 2008 demonstration will be given. Profiles developed within other IHE domains, such as Information Technology Infrastructure, will also be discussed. Educational Objectives: 1. To describe the structure and purpose of the IHE effort, including a brief history of IHE and the formation of the IHE‐RO effort. 2. To review the development process of the 2007 IHE‐RO profile; how it was dev