Upper-level Ontologies for Health Information Systems^[*]

 

 Buy Article Permissions and Reprints

Summary

Objectives: We examine the potential of archetype patterns for upper-level ontology development in health information systems (HISs).

Methods: Archetype patterns, based on the integration of archetype concepts and design patterns, are conceptualized and developed for ontology in the HIS domain. The UML provides the underlying modeling support.

Results: We argue in favor of the archetype pattern providing models for upper-level ontologies in HIS. This, in turn, has the potential to offer a foundation for interoperability across HIS applications and enterprises. Our research also shows the limitations of current ontology development methods as well as the challenges faced in archetype pattern development. The framework has potential for general, widespread usage. Overall, this approach supports ontology development in HIS.

Conclusions: The research demonstrates the applicability of archetype patterns to ontology development in HIS. While numerous ontologies exist in biomedicine, there are few well-developed ontologies for general healthcare. Properly modeled, archetype patterns have potential to reconcile the differences in high-level design views across health care inter-enterprises. Future research can focus on governance, standards and tools for archetype patterns, as well as development of a comprehensive set of high-level healthcare archetype patterns.

^* In honor of Dr. Lawrence Schkade’s 80th birthday for introducing the first author to ontology 25 years ago.

• References

• 1 Aloisio G, Barba MC, Blasi E, Cafaro M, Fiore S, Mirto M. A web service-based grid portal for edge-breaker compression. Methods Inf Med 2005; 44: 233-238.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 2 Arlow J, Neustadt I. Enterprise Patterns and MDA. Boston: Addison-Wesley; 2004
  Google Scholar
• 3 Van der Maas AAF, Ter Hofstede AHM, Ten Hoopen AJ. Requirements for medical modeling languages. JAMIA 2001; 8: 146-162
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 4 Beale T. Archetypes: constraint-based domain models for future-proof information systems. Proc 11th OOPSLA Workshop on Behavioral Semantics: Serving the Customer. Seattle; Washington, USA: 2002. pp 16-32.
  Google Scholar
• 5 Bird L, Goodchild A, Heard S. Importing clinical data into electronic health records – lessons learnt from the first Australian GEHR trials. Proc 10th National Health Informatics Conference Melbourne, Australia: 2002. pp 94-98.
  Google Scholar
• 6 Blobel BGME, Engel K, Pharow P. Semantic inter-operability – HL7 Version 3 compared to advanced architecture standards. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 343-353.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 7 Bodenreider O, Burgun A. Biomedical ontologies. In: Chen H, Fuller S, Hersh WR, Friedman C. (eds). Medical Informatics: Advances in Knowledge Management and Data Mining in Biomedicine. Springer-Verlag: 2005. pp 211-236.
  Google Scholar
• 8 Bodenreider O, Stevens R. Bio-ontologies: current trends and future directions. Briefings in Bioinformatics 2006; 7: 256-274.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 9 Dogac A, Laleci GB, Kabak Y, Unal S, Beale T, Heard S, Elkin PL, Najmi F, Mattocks C, Weber D, Kernberg M. Exploiting ebXML registry semantic constructs for handling archetype metadata in health-care informatics. International Journal of Meta-data, Semantics and Ontologies 2006; 1: 21-36.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 10 Dolin RH, Alschuler L, Boyer S, Beebe C, Behlen FM, Biron PV, Shabo A. HL7 clinical document architecture, Release 2. JAMIA 2006; 13: 30-39.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 11 Eggebraaten TJ, Tenner JW, Dubbels JC. A health-care data model based on the HL7 reference information model. IBM Systems Journal 2007; 46: 5-18.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 12 Elkin P, Kernberg M. HL7 template and archetype architecture. HL7 Template Special Interest Group; January 2004 p 15.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 13 Estrella F, Hauer T, McClatchey R, Odeh M, Rogulin D, Solomonides T. Experiences of engineering grid-based medical software. Int J Med Inform 2007; 76: 621-632.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 14 Fowler M. Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models. Addison-Welsey Longman; 1997
  Google Scholar
• 15 Gamma E, Helm R, Johnson R, Vlissides JM. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series; 1994
  Google Scholar
• 16 Garde S, Baumgarten B, Basu O, Graf N, Haux R, Herold R, Kutscha U, Schilling F, Selle B, Spiess C, Wetter T, Knaup P. A meta-model of chemotherapy planning in the multi-hospital/multi-trial-center-environment of pediatric oncology. Methods Inf Med 2004; 43: 171-183.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 17 Garde S, Knaup P, Hovenga EJS, Heard S. Towards semantic interoperability for electronic health records. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 332-343.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 18 Greenwood R, Hinings CR. Understanding strategic change: the contribution of archetypes. The Academy of Management Journal 1983; 36: 1052-1081.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 19 Gold JD, Ball MJ. The health record banking imperative: a conceptual model. IBM Systems Journal 2007; 46: 43-55.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 20 Hajdukiewicz JR, Vicente KJ, Doyle DJ, Milgram P, Burns CM. Modeling a medical environment: an ontology for integrated medical informatics design. Int J Med Inform 2001; 62: 79-99.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 21 Heja G, Surjan G, Lukacsy G, Pallinger P, Gergely M. GALEN based formal representation of ICD10. Int J Med Inform 2007; 76: 118-123.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 22 Hess HM. Aligning technology and business: applying patterns for legacy transformation. IBM Systems Journal 2005; 44: 25-45.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 23 Hovenga E, Garde S, Heard S. Nursing constraint models for electronic health records: a vision for domain knowledge governance. Int J Med Inform 2005; 74: 886-898.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 24 Hunt J. Guide to the Unified Process Featuring UML Java and Design Patterns. Springer; 2003
  Google Scholar
• 25 Lyalin D, Williams W. Modeling cancer registration processes with an enhanced activity diagram. Methods Inf Med 2005; 44: 11-13.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 26 Maojo V, Crespo J, de la Calle G, Barreiro J, Garcia-Remesal M. Using web services for linking genomic data to medical information systems. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 484-492.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 27 Massingill BL. Experiments with program parallelization using archetypes and stepwise refinement. In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1998; 1388: 844-856.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 28 Massingill BL, Mattson TG, Sanders BA. A pattern language for parallel application programs. In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2000; 1900: 678.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 29 McCray AT. An upper-level ontology for the biomedical domain. Comparative and Functional Genomics 2003; 4: 80-84.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 30 Miller D, Friesen PH. Archetypes of strategy formulation. Management Science 1978; 24: 921-933.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 31 Miller D, Friesen PH. Archetypes of organizational transition. Administrative Science Quarterly 1980; 25: 268-299.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 32 Pease A, Niles I. IEEE standard upper ontology: a progress report. The Knowledge Engineering Review 2002; 17: 65-70.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 33 Porter ME, Teisberg EO. Redefining Health Care. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press; 2006
  Google Scholar
• 34 Powner DA. Health information technology. HHS is continuing efforts to define a national strategy. GAO-06-346T, United States Government Accountability Office (3-15-2006) ( http://www.gao.gov. )
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 35 Raghupathi W, Gao W. Exploring a UML profile approach to modeling web services in health care. International Journal of Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics 2007; 2: 36-52.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 36 Raghupathi W, Kesh S. Interoperable electronic health records design: towards a service-oriented architecture. E-service Journal 2007; 5: 39-57.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 37 Raghupathi W, Gao W. An eclipse-based development approach to health information technology. International Journal of Electronic Healthcare 2007; 3: 433-452.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 38 Raghupathi W, Umar A. Exploring an MDA approach to developing information systems in health care. Int J Med Inform 2008; 77: 305-314.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 39 Rowland G. Archetypes of systems design. Systemic Practice and Action Research 1995; 8: 277-288.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 40 Schulz S, Boeker M, Stenzhorn H, Niggemann J. Granularity issues in the alignment of upper ontologies. Methods Inf Med 2009; 48: 184-189.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 41 Schwaninger M. Modeling with archetypes: an effective approach to dealing with complexity. In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2004; 2809: 127-138.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 42 Shabo A. A global socio-economic-medico-legal model for the sustainability of longitudinal electronic health records – part 1. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 240-245.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 43 Simons WW, Mandl KD, Kohane IS. The PING personally controlled electronic medical record system: technical architecture. JAMIA 2005; 12: 47-54.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 44 Stevens R, Goble C, Horrocks I, Bechhofer S. Building a bioinformatics ontology using OIL. IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine 2002; 6: 135-141
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 45 Stojanovic L, Schneider J, Maedche A, Libischer S, Studer R, Lumpp Th, Abecker A, Breiter G, Dinger J. The role of ontologies in autonomic computing systems. IBM Systems Journal 2004; 43: 598-616.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 46 Tambouratzis G, Tambouratzis D. Self-organization in complex pattern spaces using a logic neural network. Network: Computation in Neural Systems 1994; 5: 599-617.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 47 Tirado-Ramos A, Jingkun Hu J, Lee KP. Representation of DICOM structured reporting: a case study of transcoding DICOM to XML. JAMIA 2002; 9: 63-72.
  PubMedGoogle Scholar
• 48 van der Linden H, Talmon J, Tange H, Grimson J, Hasman A. PropeR revisited. Int J Med Inform 2005; 74: 235-244.
  CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
• 49 Winter A, Brigl B, Wendt T. Modeling hospital information systems (part 1): the revised three-layer graph-based meta model 3LGM2. Methods Inf Med 2003; 42: 544-551.
  Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar