Hans Buitendijk, a leader in the effort to develop appropriate standards and guidance across the healthcare industry, speaks with HIMSS Vice President for Informatics Joyce Sensmeier on the topic of standards maturity in healthcare IT. The discussion addresses the current status of interoperability standards adoption and implementation, exactly what is meant by the concept of a mature standard, and recommendations on moving the industry toward efficient development and widespread adoption of truly mature standards for interoperability.Guest:Hans Buitendijk, M.Sc., FHL7HS Standards & Regulation Manager, Siemens HealthcareInterviewer:Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, FAANVice President, Informatics, HIMSSEpisode Transcript.

In this episode, Joyce Sensmeier, HIMSS Vice President of Informatics, who also serves as the President of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) USA has a discussion with Mike Nusbaum, President of IHE Canada about the basics of IHE International, IHE Integration Profiles, and the work of IHE Domain Committees. Mike has been involved with Integrating the Health Enterprise (IHE) for 12 years. He is the former Co-chair of Planning for the IHE IT Infrastructure Domain and has been on the IHE International Board since its inception.Download a free copy of Interoperability for Dummies©, IHE Edition.Guest:Mike Nusbaum, BASc, MHSA, FHIMSS President, MH Nusbaum & Associates Ltd.Interviewer:Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, FAAN Vice President, Informatics, HIMSS

In this episode, Joyce Sensmeier, HIMSS Vice President, Informatics, welcomes Keith Boone, a self-designated Standards Geek working at GE Healthcare. Keith represents GE Healthcare within various standards organizations, develops standards used in healthcare, and teaches/promotes those standards in the healthcare industry. Keith has been an implementer of standards for more than 25 years, and has focused his energies on interoperability and standards in the healthcare industry for over a decade. If you want to know something about health IT standards, Keith will most likely know the answer.See Keith’s blog Healthcare Standards and follow his posts on Twitter@motorcycle_guy.Guest:Keith BooneStandards Geek working at GE HealthcareInterviewer:Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, FAANVice President, Informatics, HIMSS

In the third episode, Joyce Sensmeier, HIMSS Vice President, Informatics, welcomes Harold Solbrig from the Mayo Clinic, who is currently working on theCommon Terminology Services 2 (CTS2) specification. Listen to Joyce and Harold discuss the importance of using standardized terminology in healthcare informatics to promote interoperability and the role CTS2 can play to help automate this process.Guest:Harold SolbrigTechnical Specialist, Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Mayo ClinicInterviewer:Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, FAAN

In this second episode, HIMSS VP for Informatics Joyce Sensmeier welcomes John Loonsk, chair of the HIMSS Interoperability Policy Section (HIPS) Work Group. As a clinician, technologist, and former Director of Interoperability and Standard at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Dr. Loonsk provides his unique perspective on interoperability related to health IT adoption and meaningful use compliance. He looks at the state of health information integration and exchange from a multidisciplinary view point, not only taking into consideration the technical challenges and economic incentives, but also, the political climate and regulatory considerations that impact the likelihood and rate in which the U.S. healthcare system is moving toward the ultimate goal of semantic interoperability.If you are interested in health IT at all, this will be 10 minutes well spent.Guest:Dr. John Loonsk, MD, FACMIChief Medical Information Officer, CGI; and Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Population Health IT, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.Interviewer:Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, FAANVice President, Informatics, HIMSS

In this episode, the Chair of the Interoperability & Standards (I&S) Committee, Dr. Keith Salzman walks us through the definition of Interoperability in health IT. This definition was approved by the HIMSS Board of Directors on April 5, 2013. Keith also gives examples of healthcare operations that correlate to each of the three levels of interoperability: 1) Foundational; 2) Structural; and 3) Semantic.Guest:Keith Salzman, MD, MPHChief Medical Information Officer of CACI International Inc.Interviewer: Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, FAANVP HIMSS Informatics