Distributed querying of clinical documents modeled as HL7 version 3 standard

Abstract

We present a software tool called Collaborative Data Network (CDN) for distributed querying of clinical documents modeled using HL7 v3 standard (e.g., Clinical Document Architecture). HL7 Version 3 standard was developed to enable semantic interoperability in healthcare data interchange. XML is used to encode the data. In this thesis, we focus on the design, implementation, and evaluation of three key components in CDN. The first component supports distributed XQuery processing in a peer-to-peer network once the publishers of relevant documents are known. The second component enables secure exchange of messages and data during query processing by applying wellknown cryptographic techniques. This is necessary for HIPAA compliance. Third component provides a user interface for posing clinical queries by clinicians and researchers. A comprehensive performance evaluation of CDN has been conducted on a local cluster using real-world clinical discharge summaries that were modeled using HL7 CDA standard.