The OpenHIE Community just wrapped up another in-person community meeting. In November 2024, we ventured to Asia for the first time for five days in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Over five days 188 community members from 32 different countries explored imaging, standards, interoperability, open-source tech, governance, regional HIE support, capacity strengthening, international patient summary, and many more topics all around supporting health information exchange efforts.
You can review the schedule from the week and access the collaborative notes and slide decks on the event website: https://ohie24.ohie.org/
Academy Live Learning Session: Standards, Standards, Standards
On day one of the event, interested participants gathered to hear from subject matter experts on semantic and syntactic standards and implementation guide development. There were many discussions, some of the key topics were discussing the difference between HIE and the OpenHIE community, fragments of a code system, LOINC codes, terminology services, data quality, mapping code systems, Monitoring & Evaluation, and updates in International Patient Summary (IPS).
Participants left this session ready to bring in their learning to conversations throughout the week!
Architecture Summit
The Architecture Summit was also hosted on the first day of the event! It was hosted as a focused, abbreviated session to discuss Imagining and how the OpenHIE community can incorporate best practices and lessons learned in this field into the Architecture.
PACS (Picture Archiving and Community Systems) and DICOM were discussed as standards being used currently in many countries, though there is room to grow for interoperability.
Discussions around innovative approaches, governance, and needs from OpenHIE as a community were also addressed.
There is a strong desire in the community to bring more information around imaging in HIE.
Learning the HIE Landscape in Sri Lanka: EMRs and Digital Health Blueprint
As our host, Sri Lanka also shared their current status and areas where they would like support! Chaminda Weerabaddana, Medical Officer for Health Informatics with Sri Lanka Ministry of Health and the President of the Sri Lanka College of Health Informatics, and Dr. Palitha Karunapema, Director of Health Information with the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka, showcased the Ministry of Health’s efforts on the Digital Health Blueprint for Sri Lanka. They shared the actualization of the plan and their efforts towards health information exchange.
Additionally, the Ministry of Health also shared a virtual site visit of the EMR implementations used in local hospitals, including CloudHMIS, Cluster Information Systems, and the HHIMS.
International Patient Summary Connect-a-thon
In addition to showcasing their current implementations, Sri Lanka also shared their current approach to IPS and participated in the Connect-a-thon prepared by Jembi Health Systems, in addition to many other attendees, to collaboratively address challenges.
There was also a highly impactful conversation around Consent Management in HIE – stay tuned for a write up on this by Dr. Shakira Irfaan to be shared with the community!
Unconference Sessions
The community was able to host 21 Unconference Sessions – participant-voted and -led discussions throughout the conference!
Topics varied from technical conversations around FHIR, terminology, and SMART Guidelines; to HIE-focused topics on Digital Health as a Political Choice, interoperability layers, consequences in data collection, and roadmapping!
To learn more about topics discussed, access notes, and read a high-level summary of each of the sessions – check out this slide deck.
Sponsors of #OHIE24!
The OpenHIE Community thanks these generous organizations for helping more community members participate in OpenHIE!
CDC TAP (Technical Assistance Platform), The Global Fund, UNICEF, and WSO2
Connecting Face-to-Face
One of the best features of this event is always the benefit of coming together face-to-face and breaking out of the traditional online environment we are used to.
Sessions are created to promote this aspect of the event and increase the opportunities participants have to connect and share insights!
An amazing welcome session helped to kick-off this event! We were joined by a local dance group that demonstrated a traditional dance as they welcomed members of the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka as well as important members of the OpenHIE community. The dance was followed by a traditional lighting of an oil lamp and the Sri Lankan national anthem. It was a lovely introduction to Sri Lankan culture as we started off the week!
The social dinner helped us kick off the week with a live-band, good fun, and even more conversations!
The Technical Marketplace featured 19 technical solutions and initiatives! Representatives from each took over a table in the main ballroom and participants were given one hour to visit different tables and discuss solutions to their challenges. We can’t wait to see this event again in 2025!
A cornerstone of events like this, are the opportunities participants take advantage of to tuck away at unused tables and
seating areas to have corner conversations with colleagues to address challenges and share insights with one another! I
t’s so inspiring to walk around the hotel, and see groups of individuals making the most of this week and engaging so deeply in conversations.
Or even a group of attendees making a trip to a nearby mall or visiting local temples and tourist attractions! (Someone, community members made these side events happen in this busy week!)
Thank You for Participating in #OHIE24! And…What’s Next??
Thank you to all who participated in this event and to those who spent much of their time planning and preparing for it! We can surely say this was a successful year and we’ll be able to see the hard work put into it over the months to come in the OpenHIE Community!
Are you ready for next year?! See you in Rwanda in 2025 for #OHIE25! Be sure to sign up for the mailing list to get all the announcements as we solidify plans: https://ohie.org/list/