Frequently asked questions about IHE

Driven by national and regional initiatives, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise has grown worldwide to steadily improve interoperability and integration.

The national focus for IHE is especially important in Europe due to the nature of the healthcare environment. National IHE initiatives have developed in a growing number of European countries, and these initiatives coordinate their activities at the European level within the association IHE-Europe aisbl.

IHE-Europe has prepared responses to frequently asked questions about IHE and its processes, which are now available as a PDF document for download :

• * in English
• * in French
• * in German
• * in Italian
• * in Spanish
• * in Dutch

Following are questions often asked about IHE that are answered in the document.

• * What is IHE?
• * Why is IHE needed?
• * What is "interoperability"?
• * What is the origin of IHE?
• * How does the IHE process work?
• * How long does it take to develop a solution to a user problem?
• * What is the role of users?
• * What is the role of standards within IHE?
• * What is the content of an Integration Profile?
• * How does IHE verify conformance at the Connectathon?
• * Does IHE provide certification?
• * How does IHE support the discussion between users and vendors?
• * What is the benefit to users?
• * Does IHE address Electronic Health Records?
• * Is the participation in IHE restricted to members?
• * Is IHE for free?
• * What is the specific role of IHE-Europe?
• * What is the specific role of national IHE initiatives?

If you have additional questions about IHE or IHE-Europe, please send an email to technical.manager@ihe-europe.net for technical questions and coordinator@ihe-europe.net for general/other questions.