Building a logical EHR architecture based on ISO 13606 standard and semantic web technologies.

Among the existing patterns of EHR interoperability, the ISO 13606 standard is an important consideration. It is believed that the use of this norm, in conjunction with semantic technologies, may aid in the construction of a robust architecture, keeping in mind the challenges of semantic interoperability. The objective of this paper is to present a proposal for an EHR architecture, based on ISO 13606 and on the utilization of semantic technologies, for a real EHR scenario. In order to accomplish that, a real EHR scenario is described, as well as its main interoperability requirements and a candidate architecture is proposed to solve the presented challenges of interoperability. The ability of the ISO 13606 EHR reference model to accommodate the scenario was highlighted, together with the support provided by the use of the ontology specification languages--RDF and OWL--in respect to the maintenance of a controlled vocabulary.