Interoperability

Tim Benson's book Principles of health interoperability HL7 and SNOMED, Springer 2010, provides an introduction to health interoperability, HL7 and SNOMED CT, focusing on the core principles.  Readers will find this book easy to read, even if it is their first exposure to health information standards.
 
Improvements in health care depend critically on interoperability, enabling computers to provide information when and where it is needed.  In a joined up world, patients clinicians managers payers and researchers expect secure access to the right information at the right time and place to take more soundly based decisions leading to better patient outcomes, safety and experience.  Interoperability is the key technical enabler of the process re-engneering that is needed to reduce costs, errors, delays and repeated tasks.
 
This all depends on us implementing and deploying appropriate standards such as HL7 and SNOMED CT.  HL7 provides the syntax or grammar, while SNOMED provides the words or semantics.