Cross Enterprise Document Sharing

Cross Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS) is a standard for facilitating the registration, distribution and access of patient electronic health records. XDS is a part of the IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) initiative, which aims to improve the way healthcare computer systems share information.

Overview

Cross Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS) is a system that allows the sharing of patient records across different healthcare institutions. This is achieved by creating a network of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) that can communicate with each other. The goal of XDS is to provide a patient-centric view of the medical record, regardless of where the information was originally created or stored.

Architecture

The XDS architecture is based on a registry-repository model. The XDS Registry stores metadata about each document, while the XDS Repository stores the actual documents. The metadata in the registry allows the documents to be discovered and retrieved from the repository.

Document Sharing Process

The document sharing process in XDS involves several steps:

1. The source (e.g., a hospital) creates a document and sends it to the XDS Repository.
2. The XDS Repository stores the document and sends metadata about the document to the XDS Registry.
3. The XDS Registry stores the metadata and makes it available for queries.
4. A consumer (e.g., a doctor) queries the XDS Registry for documents related to a specific patient.
5. The XDS Registry returns the metadata for the relevant documents.
6. The consumer uses the metadata to retrieve the actual documents from the XDS Repository.

Benefits

Cross Enterprise Document Sharing has several benefits, including:

• Improved patient care: By providing a complete view of the patient's medical history, XDS can help healthcare providers make better-informed decisions.
• Increased efficiency: XDS eliminates the need for manual sharing of documents, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.
• Enhanced interoperability: XDS uses standard protocols and formats, making it easier for different systems to communicate with each other.

See Also

• Health Level 7
• DICOM
• EHR
• HIE

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