details and conditions not specifically available in the canned hierarchy. This means of defining and collecting medically relevant details allows the system to encode individual cases in a machine-readable form, so cases stored in EMRs can be read and processed by other compliant applications.

Exchanging data between electronic medical systems requires their use of protocols like DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), which defines the handling of medical imaging, including a file format to store images and a network protocol for transmitting them across TCP/IP networks. DICOM can be viewed as something like a specialized combination of TIFF and FTP, bundling imaging and network communication, along with rich metadata attributes describing the associated patient.

The Department of Health and
Human Services is backing global
adoption of SNOMED-C T through
its participation in the International
Health Terminology Standards
Development Organization and
officially recognizing recently
adopted standards relating to emer-
gency responders, EMR transmission
between providers and patients, and
real-time patient information.

by HHS in 2005 to advance IT adoption in the healthcare sector.

Reporting, Remotely
and in Real Time

If the EMR is a patient’s digital hub for medical care, then data must be able to flow in at least two directions. That is, adding and updating information in the EMR need not be limited to visits to the doctor. Some of the information might be updateable directly by users and other authorized caregivers from the comfort of home (or anywhere else).

For many patients with ongoing monitoring needs (more common in geriatric care), some trips to the doctor are only for updating basic measurements, like weight, temperature, heart rate, blood glucose, and blood pressure. Further testing may be needed but only when these readings show deviations or suspicious changes. It would save both time and money for patients and doctors alike if this sort of monitoring could be uploaded directly into a patient’s EMR without involving a trip to the office.

One technology that might be an essential platform for remote reporting of health informatics data is the body area network (BAN), sometimes called medical body area network (MBAN) and wireless body area network (WBAN). As futuristic as it may sound, BANs are being developed today from existing technology combining monitoring with communication. Wearable sensors for monitoring vital signs are commercially available, but for BANs to achieve widespread application the sensors must shrink to a size that is either easily portable or even implantable. Moreover, they must communicate via wireless RF to some sort of

Photogra Phs Courtesy babak a. ParVIz, DePartment oF eleCtrICal engIneerIng at the unIVersIty oF washIngton; httP://www.ee.washIngton.eDu/researCh/ParVIz/html/researCh.html