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Vol: 59(73) No: 2 / December 2014 

Modern Technologies for Improving Interoperability in Health Information Systems
Alexandru Jurcău
Politehnica University of Timisoara, Department of Automation and Applied Informatics, Bd. V. Pârvan 2, 300223 Timisoara, Romania, phone: +40 (256) 403-234, e-mail: jurcaudaniel@hotmail.com
Vasile Stoicu-Tivadar
Politehnica University of Timisoara, Department of Automation and Applied Informatics, Bd. V. Pârvan 2, 300223 Timisoara, Romania, e-mail: vasile.stoicu-tivadar@upt.ro


Keywords: Health Information Systems, Data Federalization, HL7 CDA, Metaprogramming, Microsoft Entity Framework

Abstract
This paper investigates the potential of using modern programming and data access technologies for the purpose of automating - as much as possible - the generation of connectors used in the process of medical data federalization from heterogeneous sources. The paper is structured into 4 parts. The first chapter is an introduction to the problem at hand. It details the current situation of data in a medical environment and the challenges transferring this data among health information systems. This chapter also introduces standards that have been developed for the storage and transfer of medical data. The second chapter describes modern technologies that can be used to improve the federalization of data from heterogeneous source. This chapter compares the features of programming languages that are compiled to byte code as opposed to those that are compiled to native code. From this starting point, it focuses on Metaprogramming technologies available on the Microsoft .NET Platform. The second part of this chapter presents the Microsoft Entity Framework and its features that allow the developers to easily target heterogeneous database systems. The third chapter provides discussions and suggests a system architecture that uses these technologies. This chapter also illustrates how the authors have used these technologies to develop a system that eases the translation of LOINC codes into other languages. The fourth chapter issues conclusions.

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