Query Health Clinical Information Model (CIM) – High Level Scoping Statement
Purpose
The purpose of the Query Health Clinical Information Model (CIM) is to review the dataset requirements set forth
in the Query Health Use Case, identify and detail CIM Objects and Data Elements relevant to those requirements,
and to provide detailed guidance surrounding the Query Health CIM to support future implementations. The Query
Health CIM serves as an abstract model that can be mapped from the abstract to the model that is inherent in the
chosen standards of Query Health. The Query Health CIM will produce the following tangible outputs:
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A harmonized information model that shows query source-to-data source clinical information exchange
(as aligned to the Query Health Use Case)
Identify the vocabularies and value sets needed to support the Query Health Clinical Information Model
(coordinating this work with the Clinical Concept Mapping activity)
The overarching goal of the Clinical Information Model is to provide a CLINICIAN’s perspective to interoperability,
in this specific case in the use and adoption of distributed healthcare queries. While an information model is the
ultimate output of this work, it is imperative to note that this is a clinician-driven activity with the clinician as the
focus.
Scope
The scope of the Query Health CIM is officially bound by the Query Health Use Case functional requirements and
data set considerations. Our specific focus will be to analyze Query Health Use Case requirements and determine
how to structure the Query Health CIM in support of these requirements.
Additional scope is provided by the Query Health technical foundation and alternatives analysis, which provides a
further level of constraint as to the scope of the Query Health CIM.
The scope of the Query Health CIM would be expanded to cover important domains such as surveillance,
comparative effectiveness research (CER), accountable care organizations (ACO), and the analysis of claims and
administrative transaction data. Other domains would be considered as new distributed query requirements are
developed by the community.
In both the short and long term, the scope will include full analysis of privacy and security considerations (in
coordination with the Query Health Operations Working Group and other required stakeholders), to cover areas
such as anonymization for patient matching across data sources, within an organization.
Objectives
1.
2.
ShortTerm
3.
4.
5.
Long-
1.
Engage Query Health vendors and real-world implementers; in order to leverage prior
distributed query efforts and to ensure alignment with vendor implementations
Complete a review of the Query Health dataset requirements and their applicability to the
Query Health CIM
Establish the Query Health CIM based on real-world implementations and current information
modeling efforts
Complete the development of an initial Query Health CIM to support the Query Health Technical
Foundation, reference implementations and potential pilots
Propose supporting value sets and controlled vocabularies for the Query Health CIM that are
currently in use
Establish an information object centric approach to information exchange associated with Query
Term
2.
3.
Health
Add additional Query Health CIM representations for key information in critical healthcare
domains, such as research, accountable care, surveillance, and detailed quality measurement.
Identify additional gaps in current distributed query implementation that require further detail.
Assumptions
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The work on the Query Health CIM is intended to be a consensus-adopted effort that will be driven by
community members and their specific expertise in clinical information modeling.
We will leverage existing information models and technical approaches already used, up to and including
the Clinical Element Models (CEM), the Federal Health Information Model (FHIM), HL7 Version 3 Domain
Analysis Models (DAMs), and the inherent technological implementation models of i2B2, hQuery, and
PopMedNet.
The Query Health CIM will reuse the work of the S&I Framework CIM wherever possible and within scope,
but will retain the option to offer improvements, build extensions, and scope the Query Health CIM as
needed
Key Outputs
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Query Health CIM Objects (with specific examples)
Query Health CIM Data Elements (with specific examples)
Query Health CIM Abstract Model (Data Dictionary)
Query Health CIM Reference Implementation Model
Query Health CIM Supporting Value Sets and Vocabularies (in alignment with Clinical Concept
Mapping activity)
Overview of Activity