eHealth Interoperability Lab

Whether it is the electronic transfer of health records or the proactive care of emergency patients, the eHealth Interoperability Lab offers the state-of-the-art development and test environment for all relevant applications in the healthcare sector.

In the eHealth Interoperability Lab, relevant applications can be realistically reproduced – from the emergency care, the ambulance service and the outpatient treatment to pharmaceutical therapy and the integrated care. They build the basis for users and manufacturers to assure the data transfer and interaction of applications with other healthcare information systems.

Equipped with the most advanced IT test technologies, the eHealth Interoperability Lab is based on the latest research in the tool-based software development. The infrastructure of the laboratory covers many process chains in the healthcare sector and is thus precisely geared to the needs of the actors.

Standards as common denominator

The compliance with standards is an important basis to assure the interoperability of systems by different manufacturers in the healthcare sector. All test tools and methods that are used in the eHealth Interoperability Lab are based on current IT standards for eHealth applications and architectures.

In addition to specifications of the standardization bodies ISO, IEC, ETSI and ITU, the eHealth Interoperability Lab supports the following IT standards:

• The HL7 protocol in the versions 2 and 3
• The IHE profiles
• The EHR standard

The support of further standards, for example DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), is in development. The systematic test approach used in the laboratory contributes significantly to the improvement of the product quality of eHealth systems. For the development of the test scenarios, the experts of Fraunhofer FOKUS employ the modeling language UML, the UML testing profile as well as the test specification and test implementation language TTCN-3. In this way, the different actors can be integrated transparently and efficiently in the test procedure in order to simulate the direct interaction of the actors within the process.

Up to date on the latest research

The eHealth Interoperability Lab is integrated into domestic and international research activities. The experts of Fraunhofer FOKUS contribute considerably to the research of new eHealth applications and systems and are established as competent partners in research and development projects.

Recent results from these research and development activities, like those of the Connectathon events, are immediately incorporated into the test and software environment of the eHealth Interoperability Lab. In this way, current developments on the healthcare market, activities of the German and European healthcare policy and the integration of existing demands from medical technology can be promptly represented. In addition, Fraunhofer FOKUS is represented in international standardization bodies and thus actively involved in the definition and specification of international standards.