Glossary

This section provides definitions of commonly used words.

Health Information Exchange

Health Information Exchange is an entity that enables the movement of health-related data among entities within a state, a region, or a non-jurisdictional participant group, which might include "classic" regional health information organizations at regional and state levels, Health Information Organization integrated delivery systems and health plans, or health data banks that support health information exchange.

Health Information Organization

Health Information Organization is an organization that enables the movement of health-related data among entities, evolving as a replacement term for health information exchange or HIE. Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel Or simply HITSP, a cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors formed and supported by ONC for the purpose of harmonizing and integrating standards that will meet clinical and business needs established by AHIC use cases for sharing information among organizations and systems.

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information, promoting and coordinating the use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical need in support of optimal patient care. The Nationwide Health Information Network is being developed by ONC to provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable health information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers, and others involved in supporting health and healthcare.

Security Assertion Markup Language

Security Assertion Markup Language is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains.

Web Services Description Language

Web Services Description Language is an XML format for describing network services as a set of endpoints operating on messages containing either document-oriented or procedure-oriented information.

XML Schema

XML Schema is a means for defining the structure, content, and semantics of XML documents.