G7 digital health reports: glossary
Published 30 December 2021
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CEN: International Patient Summary (IPS) standard
Abbreviation or acronym
CEN or IPS
Definition
Two standards establishing an International Patient Summary – EN 17269:2019 and CEN/TS 17288:2020 – were recently developed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)’s CEN/TC 251 – Health Informatics technical body.
These standards cover the requirements for exchanging a core essential data set of healthcare data to support the continuity of care for a patient, whenever and wherever it is needed.
Source
European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization: New CEN standard TS 17288 ‘The International Patient Summary: Guideline for European Implementation’
Classification
Definition
Classification is defined as the systematic arrangement of the objects in groups or categories according to fixed criteria. Comparing items according to similarities and differences falls under classification. The 3 major factors are:
- it helps in identifying objects or living organisms
- it helps in understanding and studying the features, similarities and differences between different objects
- it tells us about how the objects are grouped and categorised under different categories
Source
Cuemath: Classification
Clinician
Definition
Any healthcare professional involved in providing treatment, healthcare advice or care to a patient.
The persons or entities (whether public or private) which collect and process personal data. They determine the purpose(s) and means for processing the data. For instance, medical practitioners are usually controllers of their patients’ data.
Source
European Patients Forum: The new EU Regulation on the protection of personal data: what does it mean for patients?
Data processing
Definition
Any operation performed on personal data such as:
- collection
- recording
- organisation
- structuring
- storage
- adaptation
- retrieval consultation
- use
- disclosure by transmission
- making available or disseminating
- erasure
- destruction
Source
European Patients Forum: The new EU Regulation on the protection of personal data: what does it mean for patients?
Data subject
Definition
The person the data is about. For example, patients are data subjects when their personal data is processed for healthcare or research purposes. The Regulation also grants rights to data subjects in order to protect their personal data.
Source
European Patients Forum: The new EU Regulation on the protection of personal data: what does it mean for patients?
Dictionary of medicines and devices
Abbreviation or acronym
dm+d
Definition
The dm+d is a dictionary of descriptions and codes that represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS.
Source
NHS Business Services Authority: Dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d)
Digital health
Definition
A broad umbrella term encompassing eHealth, as well as developing areas such as the use of advanced computer sciences (for example, in the fields of ‘big data’, genomics and artificial intelligence) that plays an important role in strengthening health systems and public health, increasing equity in access to health services, and in working towards universal health coverage.
Source
World Health Organization (WHO) Europe: Digital health
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
Abbreviation or acronym
DICOM
Definition
Digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) is a standard that establishes rules that allow medical images and associated information to be exchanged between imaging equipment from different vendors, computers and hospitals.
Source
DICOM Secretariat: DICOM Standard
eHealth Network
Definition
“A Europe fit for the digital age” is one of the 6 political priorities of the European Commission between 2019 and 2024. Building upon precedent initiatives enhancing the creation of a Digital Single Market, the digital transition should be something that benefits everyone, putting people first and opening new opportunities for business.
Health is one of the sectors included in this agenda, given the potential benefits that digital services have to offer citizens and enterprises in this area. The eHealth network leads the development and collaboration, progressing the eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (eHDSI) and MyHealth@EU.
Source
European Commission: eHealth Network
eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure
Abbreviation or acronym
eHDSI
Definition
An infrastructure ensuring the continuity of care for European citizens while they are travelling abroad in the EU. This gives EU countries the possibility to exchange health data in a secure, efficient and interoperable way.
Citizens can easily recognise the availability of the services under the brand ‘MyHealth@EU’.
Source
European Commission: eHealth: Digital health and care
EMA Substances, Products, Organisations, Referentials
Abbreviation or acronym
SPOR
Definition
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is implementing the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) identification of medicinal products (IDMP) standards (known as the ISO IDMP standards in a phased programme, based on the 4 domains of master data in pharmaceutical regulatory processes: substance, product, organisation and referential (SPOR) data.
EMA is delivering 4 SPOR data management services for the centralised management of master data that comply with the ISO IDMP standards.
Source
EMA: Substance, product, organisation and referential (SPOR) master data
European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization
Abbreviation or acronym
CENELEC
Definition
The European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization (CENELEC) is one of three European Standardization Organizations (together with CEN and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)) that have been officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level.
Source
CENELEC: About CENELEC
European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare of the Council of Europe
Abbreviation or acronym
EDQM
Definition
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) works with the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM), a directorate of the Council of Europe. The EDQM traces its origins and statutes to a European treaty promoting the elaboration of a common pharmacopoeia in Europe.
The EMA and the EDQM co-operate on matters aimed at ensuring the quality of medicines and protection of public health.
Source
EMA: European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) of the Council of Europe
European Medical Device Nomenclature
Abbreviation or acronym
EMDN
Definition
European Medical Device Nomenclature (EMDN) is the nomenclature that will be of use to manufacturers when registering their medical devices in the European database of medical devices (EUDAMED). It has risen from the requirement in Article 26 of EU MDR 2017/745 and Article 23 of IVDR 2017/746.
Source
i3CGLOBAL: European Medical Device Nomenclature (EMDN CODE)
G7 Countries
Definition
The member countries of the Group of 7 (G7) international organisation. These are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the USA. The European Union is a guest.
Source
G7 UK 2021: What is the G7?
G7-IPS data points
Definition
These could be physical data stores or a process of gathering information, using application programming interfaces (APIs) or similar functionality to collate the patient’s information when they access IPS.
General Data Protection Regulation
Abbreviation or acronym
GDPR
Definition
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the information governance regulation implemented throughout the EU and UK.
It lays down rules relating to the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and rules relating to the free movement of personal data.
It protects fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, and in particular their right to the protection of personal data.
The free movement of personal data within the EU shall be neither restricted nor prohibited for reasons connected with the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.
Source
Intersoft Consulting: gdpr-info.eu
Global Digital Health Partnership
Abbreviation or acronym
GDHP
Definition
The Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) is a collaboration of governments and territories, government agencies and the WHO, formed to support the effective implementation of digital health services.
Source
GDHP: Our work
HL7: Clinical Document Architecture
Abbreviation or acronym
HL7 – CDA
Definition
HL7 V2, V3, Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) are the health data exchange standards that were released by the Health Level 7 (HL7) International group.
Source
HL7 International: CDA (HL7 Clinical Document Architecture)
HL7: Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture
Abbreviation or acronym
HL7 – C-CDA
Definition
Consolidated CDA (C-CDA) is one of the most widely implemented implementation guides for CDA and covers a significant scope of clinical care. Its target of the ‘common’ or ‘essential’ elements of healthcare is closely aligned with FHIR’s focus on the ‘80%’. There is significant interest in industry and government in the ability to interoperate between CDA and FHIR, and C-CDA is a logical starting point. Implementers and regulators have both expressed an interest in the ability to map between FHIR and C-CDA.
Source
HL7 Structured Documents Working Group: C-CDA on FHIR
HL7: IPS implementation guide
Definition
International Patient Summary implementation guide.
Source
HL7: International Patient Summary Implementation Guide
HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, Release 4
Abbreviation or acronym
HL7.FHIR® R4
Definition
FHIR is an interoperability standard intended to facilitate the exchange of healthcare information between healthcare providers, patients, caregivers, payers, researchers and anyone else involved in the healthcare ecosystem.
Source
HL7: FHIR® R4 (HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, Release 4)
HL7 FHIR International Patient Summary
Abbreviation or acronym
HL7.FHIR
Definition
An International Patient Summary (IPS) document is an electronic health record extract containing essential healthcare information about a subject of care.
Source
HL7: HL7 FHIR® Implementation Guide: International Patient Summary, Release 1
HL7 international
Abbreviation or acronym
HL7
Definition
Founded in 1987, Health Level 7 International (HL7) is a not-for-profit, American National Standards Institute-accredited standards developing organisation dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services.
Source
HL7: About HL7
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise
Abbreviation or acronym
IHE
Definition
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information.
IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care.
Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement and enable care providers to use information more effectively.
Source
IHE: ihe.net
International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use
Abbreviation or acronym
ICH
Definition
The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) is unique in bringing together the regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical industry to discuss scientific and technical aspects of pharmaceuticals and develop ICH guidelines.
Source
ICH: ich.org
International Labour Organization
Abbreviation or acronym
ILO
Definition
The International Labour Organization is a United Nations (UN) agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.
Source
ILO: About the ILO
International Patient Summary
Abbreviation or acronym
IPS
Definition
An International Patient Summary (IPS) document is an electronic health record extract containing essential healthcare information about a subject of care (patient).
International Standard Classification of Occupations
Abbreviation or acronym
ISCO
Definition
Produced by the ILO, the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) is a tool for organising jobs into a clearly defined set of groups according to the tasks and duties undertaken in the job. Its main aims are to provide a:
- basis for the international reporting, comparison and exchange of statistical and administrative data about occupations
- model for the development of national and regional classifications of occupations
- system that can be used directly in countries that have not developed their own national classifications
Source
ILO: ISCO
International Organization for Standardization
Abbreviation or acronym
ISO
Definition
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization develops and publishes worldwide technical, industrial and commercial standards.
Source
ISO: About us
IPS account
Definition
Before accessing their IPS record, patients will need an IPS account to have their identity verified.
IPS record
Definition
An individual patient’s IPS record.
ISO: Identification of Medicinal Products
Abbreviation or acronym
IDMP
Definition
The ISO Identification of Medicinal Products(IDMP) standards specify the use of standardised definitions for the identification and description of medicinal products for human use. Their purpose is to facilitate the reliable exchange of medicinal product information in a robust and consistent manner.
Source
EMA: Data on medicines (ISO IDMP standards): Overview
ISO 27269:2021 – International Patient Summary
Abbreviation or acronym
ISO 27269
Definition
Defines the core data set for a patient summary document that supports continuity of care for a person and co-ordination of their healthcare. It is specifically aimed at supporting the use case scenario for ‘unplanned cross-border care’ and is intended to be an IPS.
Source
ISO: ISO 27269:2021 Health informatics – International patient summary
ISO 3166 – Country codes
Abbreviation or acronym
ISO 3166
Definition
The international standard for country codes and codes for their subdivisions.
Source
ISO 639-1 – Language code tables
Abbreviation or acronym
ISO 639-1
Definition
The ISO’s language code tables.
Source
ISO 639-3 Registration Authority: ISO 639 Code Tables
ISO 9241-210 – Human-centred design
Abbreviation or acronym
ISO 9241
Definition
ISO 9241-210:2010 provides requirements and recommendations for human-centred design principles and activities throughout the life cycle of computer-based interactive systems.
Source
Joint Initiative Council
Abbreviation or acronym
JIC
Definition
The Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC) is formed to further the important role of health informatics standards to:
- enable interoperability of information and processes across health domains
- support the timely and efficient delivery of safe, coordinated, accountable and high-quality health services to individuals, communities and populations
- facilitate effective global markets for health information systems
Source
JIC: jointinitiativecouncil.org
Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes
Abbreviation or acronym
LOINC
Definition
Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) is a database and universal standard for identifying medical laboratory observations. First developed in 1994, it was created and is maintained by the Regenstrief Institute, a US non-profit medical research organisation.
Source
LOINC from Regenstrief: About LOINC
Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities
Abbreviation or acronym
MedDRA
Definition
The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a rich and highly specific standardised medical terminology to facilitate the sharing of regulatory information internationally for medical products used by humans.
Source
ICH: meddra.org
MyHealth@EU
Definition
New electronic cross-border health services – including ePrescriptions and IPS – which are being established progressively in 25 EU countries until the end of 2025.
Source
European Commission: eHealth: Digital health and care
Nomenclature for Properties and Units
Abbreviation or acronym
NPU
Definition
Nomenclature for Properties and Units (NPU) terminology is a patient-centred clinical laboratory terminology for use in the clinical laboratory sciences. Its function is to enable results of clinical laboratory examinations to be used safely across technology, time and geography.
Source
NPU Terminology: npu-terminology.org
ORPHAcode
Abbreviation or acronym
ORPHA
Definition
In order to effectively monitor and report on rare diseases, it was essential to establish a common language with codes specifically for rare diseases. Orphanet is the international reference resource for information on rare diseases and orphan drugs, for all audiences.
The Orphanet nomenclature of rare diseases (ORPHAcode) has been recognised as the most appropriate nomenclature for clinical coding of rare diseases in Europe. ORPHAcode is a unique, time-stable and non-reusable numerical identifier.
Source
RD-CODE: Introduction – What are ORPHAcodes?
Patient
Definition
A person receiving or registered to receive medical treatment.
Source
Oxford University Press: Oxford Languages – Google’s English dictionary
RxNorm
Abbreviation or acronym
RxNorm
Definition
Developed by the US National Library of Medicine, RxNorm provides normalised names for clinical drugs and links its names to many of the drug vocabularies commonly used in pharmacy management and drug interaction software.
Source
National Library of Medicine: Unified Medical Language System – RxNorm
SNOMED CT
Abbreviation or acronym
SNOMED CT
Definition
Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is a structured clinical vocabulary for use in an electronic health record. It is the most comprehensive and precise clinical health terminology product in the world.
Source
SNOMED International: The value of SNOMED CT
SNOMED CT Global Patient Set
Abbreviation or acronym
SNOMED GPS
Definition
The Global Patient Set (GPS) is a managed collection of existing SNOMED CT reference sets released by SNOMED International. The GPS is comprised of unique identifiers, fully specified names, preferred terms in international English and active or inactive status flags.
Source
SNOMED International: gps.snomed.org
SNOMED International
Abbreviation or acronym
SNOMED
Definition
SNOMED International determines global standards for health terms, an essential part of improving the health of humankind. They are committed to maintaining and growing our leadership as the global experts in healthcare terminology, ensuring that SNOMED CT is accepted as the global common language for clinical terms.
Source
SNOMED International: snomed.org
Standards Version Advancement Process
Abbreviation or acronym
SVAP
Definition
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has established the voluntary Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) to enable health IT developers’ ability to incorporate newer versions of secretary-adopted standards and implementation specifications, as part of the Real World Testing condition and maintenance of certification requirement 170.405 of the US’s 21st Century Cures Act.
Source
ONC: 21st Century Cures – Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP)
Sub-national jurisdiction
Definition
This is used to refer to any subdivision of a country, such as
- provinces (Canada)
- territories (Canada)
- states (US)
- home nations (UK)
- devolved administrations (UK)
Trillium Bridge project
Definition
IPS standards consistently adapted and localised to serve the needs of specific use cases are essential to attaining the vision of the patient summary as a social good and human right. The Trillium Bridge project (2013 to 2015) compared patient summary standards and specification in Europe and the US, and demonstrated the technical feasibility of exchanging electronic health record summaries across the Atlantic in the context of emergency or unplanned care abroad.
Source
Trillium II: trillium2.eu/
Unified Code for Units of Measure
Abbreviation or acronym
UCUM
Definition
The Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) is a code system intended to include all units of measures being contemporarily used in international science, engineering and business. The purpose is to facilitate unambiguous electronic communication of quantities together with their units.
Source
National Library of Medicine: Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM)
US Core Data for Interoperability
Abbreviation or acronym
USCDI
Definition
The United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) is a standardised set of health data classes and constituent data elements for nationwide, interoperable health information exchange.
Source
ONC: United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI)
WHO: Anatomical Therapeutic Chemicals classification
Abbreviation or acronym
ATC
Definition
In the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, the active substances are divided into different groups according to the organ or system on which they act and their therapeutic, pharmacological and chemical properties. Drugs are classified in groups at 5 different levels. The ATC is maintained by the WHO.
Source
WHO: ATC-DDD Toolkit – Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification
WHO: International Classification for Diseases
Abbreviation or acronym
ICD
Definition
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. The ICD is maintained by the WHO.
Source
WHO: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)
WHO: International Classification of Diseases, revision 10
Abbreviation or acronym
ICD-10
Definition
Revision 10 of the ICD.
Source
WHO: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)
WHO: International Classification of Diseases, revision 11
Abbreviation or acronym
ICD-11
Definition
Revision 11 of the ICD.
Source
WHO: icd.who.int
WHO: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
Abbreviation or acronym
ICF
Definition
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a classification of health and health-related domains.
Source
WHO: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
WHO: International Classification of Health Interventions
Abbreviation or acronym
ICHI
Definition
The International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) is a common tool for reporting and analysing health interventions for clinical and statistical purposes.
ICHI covers interventions carried out by a broad range of providers across the full scope of health systems and includes interventions on diagnostic, medical, surgical, mental health, primary care, allied health, functioning support, rehabilitation, traditional medicine and public health.
Source
WHO: International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI)
WHO: International Nonproprietary Names for pharmaceutical substances
Abbreviation or acronym
INN
Definition
International Non-proprietary Names (INN) identify pharmaceutical substances or active pharmaceutical ingredients. Each INN is a unique name that is globally recognised and is public property. A non-proprietary name is also known as a generic name.
Source
WHO: Health product and policy standards – INN and classification of medical products
World Health Organization
Abbreviation or acronym
WHO
Definition
Founded in 1948, WHO is the UN agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health.
WHO leads global efforts to expand universal health coverage. It directs and coordinates the world’s response to health emergencies. And it promote healthier lives – from pregnancy care through old age. Its Triple Billion targets outline an ambitious plan for the world to achieve good health for all, using science-based policies and programmes.
Source
WHO: About WHO