Semantic Interoperability, E-Health and Australian Health Statistics.

E-health implementation in Australia will depend upon interoperable computer systems to share information and data across the health sector. Semantic interoperability, which preserves the meaning of information and data when it is shared or re-purposed, is critical for safe clinical care, and also for any re-use of the information or data for other purposes. One such re-use is for national health statistics. Usable statistics rely on comparable and consistent data, and current practice is to use agreed national data standards to achieve this. The standardisation and interoperability needed to support e-health should also provide strong support for national health statistics. This report discusses some of the semantic interoperability issues involved in moving from the current data supply process for national health statistics to an e-health-enabled future.