International standards bodies HL7 and openEHR are considering aligning some of their standards and specifications, with an initial look at how working together could affect initiatives such as the international patient summary (IPS) and the European Health Data Space (EHDS).

In a joint statement, HL7 International CEO Charles Jaffe and openEHR International CEO Rachel Dunscombe said having some aspects of openEHR co-published as HL7 standards “will deliver clarity and harmony” in the long term.

HL7 predominantly works on standards to transfer and share data between various healthcare providers, including HL7v2 and the more recent FHIR standard, while openEHR concentrates on the retrieval and exchange of health data in electronic health records.

Both organisations have established collaborative ways of working on standards and attempts have been made in the past to bring to the two organisations together to collaborate on a formal basis.

In 2014, representatives from the FHIR project – then in its early stages – the openEHR community and HL7’s patient care working group came together to work on a common information model for adverse reactions, allergies and intolerances.

At the time, Dr Jaffe said it was the intention that the collaboration would foster better platforms for exchanging health and healthcare data, as well as increased exchange of patient data.

In 2024, DR Jaffe and Ms Dunscombe said the collaboration would demonstrate “how the specifications work together more completely than has been done previously”.

The joint statement said the questions to be asked included which openEHR specifications are appropriate to benefit from an HL7-driven standardisation process, with the initial potential candidates included the IPS and EHDS.

There was also the question of whether a path to standardisation could be found considering the existing communities with different core requirements.

“We do not have any formal agreement at this time, or even any certainty that we can overcome these challenges,” they said. “We are announcing our intention to explore a closer collaboration.

“Both openEHR and HL7 are open communities; our true value is that openness and having a transparent dialogue.

“If we together decide to move forward, whatever we do will take time to build trust, develop approaches, and deliver outcomes.”