An interoperability layer enables disparate health information systems to more easily communicate between each other in order to exchange information. This page hold the documentation produced by the Interoperability Layer Community group under the OpenHIE project.

For more details about our call that are held twice a month, see: Interoperability Layer Community Call

Call topics and points for discussion are managed at: https://trello.com/b/prE5M3fh 

Process Overview

As a part for the RHEA project an HIE has been developed for maternal health in Rwanda. For more information about this implementation see: here. During this implementation the OpenHIM (http://openhim.org/) was developed. This is expected to work for the pilot implementation for the RHEA project that is planned to run in a single district of Rwanda, however, it is not know if this instance will scale to a national level and if the technology is appropriate for national scale.

As a part of the OpenHIE project this community is tasked with reviewing and evaluating what makes a good interoperability layer going into the future and seeks to determine what technologies would be suit an interoperability layer for our purposes. The end goal is to provide a recommendation of whether we should use/modify an existing technology or built something ourselves.

Methodology

This section shows the methodology for going through the process of evaluating options for an interoperability layer. As we work on each of these items, links will be added to the relevant documentation that shows the work that is currently being done on that item.

...

Document use cases and requirements for a Interoperability Layer

1. Status: Initial version completed, needs community discussion
2. Working Document(s): What is an interoperability layer?
3. Deadline(s):
   1. 14th May 2013 - Complete community discussions
   2. 28th May 2013 - Complete community document review, release version 1

...

Performance test the current OpenHIM used in RHEA

1. Status: Completed, needs to be discussed with community
2. Working Document(s):
   1. Interoperability Layer Performance Analysis
   2. Estimated load figure for a Rwandan national deployment
3. Deadline(s): none

...

Create a tool to evaluate Interoperability Layer software that is closely linked to the requirements

1. Status: On-going, updated as requirements change
2. Working Document(s): Interoperability Layer Evaluation Tool
3. Deadline(s): 31th May 2013 - Complete community review, release version 1

...

Compile a list of software that could be used as an interoperability layer

1. Status: Not started but, some basic technologies are know
2. Working Document(s):
3. Deadline(s): 31st May 2013 - Finalise list

...

Evaluate list software options using the evaluation tool

1. Status: Not started
2. Working Document(s):
3. Deadline(s): 14th June 2013

...

Write up results of the evaluation and come to consensus on a recommended way forward (ie. Use/modify an existing tool or build from scratch)

1. Status: Not started
2. Working Document(s):
3. Deadline(s): 30th June 2013

(if we need to build or modify) Create design specifications

...

1. Design Session HIM
   
2. Open HIM Scalability Discussion
   

...