Significance and UseThis specification promotes the interoperability of health information systems through enabling a single uniform representation of human characteristics at the data layer of healthcare information systems architecture (See Fig. 1).It presents a data structure that allows the recording, storage, editing, and retrieval of human characteristics independent of technology and the language, nationality, or culture of persons or organizations involved in healthcare processes. The intended use of this specification is to promote interoperability at the physical data tier in healthcare information systems, and to enhance the design and development of data subsystems that contain human characteristics data for individuals and populations. The data structures in this specification can be readily transformed into presentation layer structuresfor example, into XML for presentation in the ASTM Continuity of Care Record or the HL7 standard Clinical Document Architecture, or into standard HL7 2.x messages. Clinical uses of this data structure include the classification and storage of human characteristics for individuals and populationsfor example, for use in clinical decision support and epidemiology to compare the individual to populations consistent with best clinical and scientific practices. This specification may be extended for use in veterinary medicine as described in Appendix X1. This extension includes a genus/taxonomy reference and associative entities/tables as cited in ANSI/ADA Specification 1000. This allows the characterization of individual non-human living things, and the inclusion of those of different species into mixed herds.Abstract This specification presents the standardized representation for the content and structure of human characteristics data for use in healthcare information systems, and may be extended to apply to characteristics of non-human living things, such as in data systems supporting veterinary medicine. This specification covers the logical representation of human characteristics data for individuals and populations, and the physical representation of human characteristics at the data tier of healthcare information systems. Conversely, the following provisions are outside the scope of this specification: the standardization of policy or regulation concerning the employment of human characteristics data described in this specification; the establishment or standardization of legal constraints over the use of human characteristics in conjunction with healthcare clinical or business processes; and addressing or standardizing personal privacy, medicolegal, and system security provisions associated with documenting human characteristics or storing human characteristics data.Scope1.1 This document presents a standardized representation for the content and structure of human characteristics data for use in healthcare information systems. 1.2 This specification may be extended to apply to characteristics of non-human living things, such as in data systems supporting veterinary medicine. 1.3 The following provisions are within the scope of this specification: 1.3.1 Logical representation of human characteristics data for individuals and populations. 1.3.2 Physical representation of human characteristics at the data tier of healthcare information systems. 1.4 The following provisions are outside the scope of this specification: 1.4.1 The standardization of policy or regulation concerning the employment of human characteristics data described in this specification. 1.4.2 The establishment or standardization of legal constraints over the use of human characteristics in conjunction with healthcare clinical or business processes. 1.4.3 Addressing or standardizing personal privacy, medicolegal, and system security provisions associated with documenting human characteristics or storing human characteristics data. 1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
