References
A highly qualified team applying proven techniques and tools to ensure interoperability.
IHE-Services offers all the competencies needed to test interoperability of health IT software by using a controlled testing environment.
Here are recent examples demonstrating a range of the offering from IHE-Services.
Connectathon 2012
The annual European IHE Connectathon is a landmark event for validating health IT system interoperability and facilitates the implementation of IHE profiles in Europe. IHE-Services has managed this five-day connectivity marathon coordinating the activities of more than 350 software developers and 45 monitors. Over 2,800 tests for interoperability were performed from May 21 to 25, 2012 at the IHE Connectathon held in Bern between 120 medical information systems from 85 companies. This year saw the first tests of IHE profiles for Cross Enterprise Document Workflow (XDW) and Lab Analytic Workflow (LAW).
IHE Connectathons around the world
The robustness of the Gazelle test tools is recognized world-wide, and IHE-Services has supported with its tools and expertise IHE Connectathons in North America since 2001, and more recently in Japan, Australia and Korea.
Smart Open Services for European Patients (epSOS)
A large-scale European eHealth project involving 23 European Countries, epSOS applies the testing tools and techniques from IHE-Services to ensure interoperability between participating member states. epSOS Projectathons were held in Bratislava in 2010 and Pisa in 2011, resulting in the first 5 countries exchanging patient summaries early 2012. In 2012 the third epSOS Projectathon achieved the on-site testing of five new participating countries to validate their epSOS National Contact Point (NCP) interface with the epSOS specifications and underlying IHE profiles.
Two other nations with validated systems also participated remotely in the testing process, and two vendors for the epSOS program were on-site as well.
Training on IHE profiles for regional and national ehealth networks
In June 2012, IHE-Services conducted a three day training session at the invitation of HL7 and IHE Finland in Helsinki. Attended by more than 30 participants spanning regional IT and national ehealth program architects as well as vendors, it provided a solid overview of the benefits of Profile-based specifications and testing and a systematic education on the design and standards selected for more than 15 IHE Profiles widely used in this domain.
Training vendor staff on preparing for a successful IHE Connectathon
In December 2011, IHE-Services conducted a two day training for Interop’ Santé, the French standards organization umbrella for HL7-France, IHE-France and HPRIM. This training took the technical staff of close to 20 vendors through a systematic approach in preparing their product implementations of IHE Profiles for pre-Connectathon testing, and the passing of the IHE Connecathon. It covered the use of Gazelle in managing test plans, the use of specific simulators and validator tools, and the quality management strategy to ensure effective tracking of issues discovered during testing.