XML Technologies for Semantic Interoperability in Healthcare: Technical Background and Implementation
Keywords:
Information Exchange, Electronic Health Records, Software DesignAbstract
Aims: To report the implementation of the MLHIM Reference Model in XML Schema Definition language version 1.1 as well as a set of examples of healthcare concepts generated from the National Cancer Institute – Common Data Elements (NCI CDE) repository. Materials and Methods: The Multilevel Healthcare Information Modeling (MLHIM) specifications have adopted the XML Schema Definition 1.1 as the basis for its reference implementation, since XML technologies are consistent across all platforms and operating systems, with tools available for all mainstream programming languages. Results: In the MLHIM specifications, the healthcare knowledge representation is defined by the Domain Model, expressed as Concept Constraint Definitions (CCDs), which provide the semantic interpretation of the objects persisted according to the generic Reference Model classes. The set of CCDs was the base for the simulation of semantically coherent data instances, according to independent XML validators, persisted on an XML database. Conclusion: This paper shows the feasibility of adopting XML technologies for the achievement of semantic interoperability in real healthcare scenarios, by providing application developers with a significant amount of industry experience and a wide array of tools through XML technologies.
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