HL7IHE

HL7IHE refers to the collaborative area of interoperability effort between HL7 International and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE). It describes how HL7 standards and IHE integration profiles are aligned to facilitate reliable exchange of health information across different information systems. HL7 develops messaging and data models such as HL7 v2, HL7 v3, CDA, and FHIR, while IHE creates profiles that specify how these standards should be applied in specific clinical workflows and across enterprise boundaries.

The core idea behind HL7IHE is to reduce interoperability gaps by providing well-defined, reusable patterns for data exchange that combine HL7 data structures with IHE workflows. IHE profiles describe how to use HL7 messages, documents, and services together with other standards such as DICOM to enable end-to-end scenarios, including patient identity matching, document sharing, and cross-enterprise workflow coordination. In recent years, HL7’s FHIR has been incorporated into some IHE profiles, reflecting a shift toward modern APIs while preserving established HL7 data models.

Common areas covered by HL7IHE include cross-enterprise document sharing (XDS), imaging document sharing (XDS-I), and broader IT infrastructure workflows (ITI). These profiles guide vendors and healthcare providers in implementing interoperable systems, ensuring that patient data and clinical documents can be located, retrieved, and used across organizational boundaries with consistent semantics and security.

Industry testing and conformance are important components of HL7IHE. Connectathon-style events and formal specifications help align implementations with agreed profiles, enabling broader adoption and reducing interoperability risk. The collaboration supports ongoing efforts to harmonize standards in response to evolving health IT needs and regulatory requirements.