Participate

• Membership
• Committees
• Public Comment
• Connectathon
• Webinars and Presentations
• Integration Statements

IHE brings together users and developers of healthcare IT systems to address interoperability issues that impact clinical care. We invite parties concerned with the interoperability of healtcare information systems to become involved in developing standards-based solutions to clinical interoperability needs, implementing those solutions in heathcare IT systems and deploying them in healthcare settings of all kinds.

IHE International is composed of stakeholder organizations worldwide, including medical professional societies, government agencies, provider organiztions, trade associations, vendors of healthcare IT systems and others. The current list of IHE member organizations is available at www.ihe.net/governance/member_organizations.cfm.

IHE member organizations can designate representatives to IHE committees, including the IHE domain committees that develop the IHE Technical Frameworks.

Becoming an IHE member organization requires submitting a simple application and a signed agreement to adhere to IHE policies. There is no fee. The application and declaration, along with IHE's governance principles are at www.ihe.net/governance/.

Committees

IHE Planning and Technical committees are composed of representatives of qualified vendors of systems directly involved in the integration scope of the IHE demonstrations. Participation on these committees is open to all qualified representatives of IHE member organizations, but requires commitment to a rigorous schedule of meetings and assignments.

Planning Committees are responsible for establishing the priority use cases and general scope for development of IHE profiles within a domain.

Technical Committees develop the detailed specifications for profiles within a domain and publish these in the IHE Technical Frameworks.

IHE International also includes the Testing and Tools Committee, the Marketing and Communications Committee and Board.

For further information about participating in IHE committees, contact the sponsoring organizations at secretary@ihe.net.

Public Comment

The IHE Technical Frameworks are a resource for users, developers and implementers of healthcare information systems. They define specific implementations of established standards to achieve effective systems integration, facilitate appropriate sharing of medical information and support optimal patient care. They are expanded annually, after a dedicated period of public comment, and maintained regularly by the IHE technical committees through the correction of errata. Technical Frameworks published for implementation are available at www.ihe.net/technical_framework/. Technical Framework supplements and related documents currently undergoing their designated public comment period are available at www.ihe.net/technical_framework/public_comment.cfm.

Comments may be submitted on Technical Framework documents at any time using the online discussion forums at http://forums.rsna.org.

Connectathon

The IHE testing process provides coordination, tools and opportunities for face-to-face interoperability testing for vendors of healthcare IT systems implementing IHE integration capabilities. IHE Connectathons are held annually in Europe, North America and Japan, and regular events are being established in other countries throughout the world.

The Connectathon allows participating companies to test their implementation of IHE capabilities with corresponding systems from industry peers. During a Connectathon particpants' systems exchange information with systems from many other participating organizations, performing all of the transactions required for the roles they have selected, called IHE Actors, in support of defined clinical functions, called IHE Integration Profiles.

Several months prior to each Connectathon, the sponsors of the event issue an open call for qualified vendors to participate. The results of testing at each Connectathon are recorded in a database that is available for public review at http://sumo.irisa.fr/con_result/.

More information on the Connectathon process and upcoming events is at www.ihe.net/connectathon/.

Webinars and Presentations

IHE has presented a series of Webinars for prospective participants in IHE Connectathons in 2009. The sessions provide information needed to help new and returning Connectathon participants prepare for Connectathon testing. The IHE Webinars, along with other IHE presentations, are available for free viewing at www.ihe.net/events/.

Integration Statements

IHE Integration Statements are documents prepared and published by vendors to describe the intended conformance of their products with the IHE Technical Framework. They identify the specific IHE capabilities a given product is designed to support in terms of the key concepts of IHE: Actors and Integration Profiles. Links to company Web pages that include Integration Statements can be found at www.ihe.net/resources/ihe_integration_statements.cfm.

Vendors wishing to develop IHE Integration Statements to communicate the integration capabilities of their systems are invited to use the form linked here. The form includes important qualifications and instructions for publishing: please read and use it carefully.