Introduction: Globalization and the advances in modern information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the practice of health
care and policy making. In the globalized economies of the 21 century, health systems will have to respond to the need of
increasingly mobile citizens, patients and providers. At the same time the increased use of ICT is enabling health systems
to systematize, process and integrate multiple data silos from different settings and at various levels. To meet these challenges
effectively, the creation of an interoperable, global e-Health information infrastructure is critical. Data interoperability
within and across heterogeneous health systems, however, is often hampered by differences in terminological inconsistencies
and the lack of a common language, particularly when multiple communities of practice from different countries are involved.
Aim: Discuss the functionality and ontological requirements for ICF in achieving semantic interoperability of e-Health information
systems.
Results: Most solution attempts for interoperability to date have only focused on technical exchange of data in common formats. Automated
health information exchange and aggregation is a very complex task which depends on many crucial prerequisites. The overall
architecture of the health information system has to be defined clearly at macro and micro levels in terms of its building
blocks and their characteristics. The taxonomic and conceptual features of the ICF make it an important architectural element
in the overall design of e-Health information systems. To use the ICF in a digital environment the classification needs to
be formalized and modeled using ontological principles and description logic. Ontological modeling is also required for linking
assessment instruments and clinical terminologies (e.g. SNOMED) to the ICF.
Conclusions: To achieve semantic interoperability of e-Health systems a carefully elaborated overall health information system architecture
has to be established. As a content standard, the ICF can play a pivotal role for meaningful and automated compilation and
exchange of health information across sectors and levels. In order to fulfill this role a ICF ontology needs to be developed.
Presentation slides available from: http://www.bridgingknowledge.net/Presentations/Symp2_Kostanjsek.pdf