Keywords: Risk Assessment, Interoperability, Threat Mitigation, Security, Security Countermeasures.

Abstract: Risk management as a discipline is no longer just a credit portfolio issue. It is imperative that institutions formalize and manage information technology (IT) risks to an acceptable level so that the frequency and size of negative impacts do not seriously interfere with the institution's mission. Frameworks can help organizations meet multiple objectives including risk management, process improvement and governance. A risk management framework can put IT in control with audit and compliance. It also enables the organization to position itself as proactive and optimized instead of reactive and subject to inappropriate levels of risk. Risk management is applied in the field of Hospital Information Systems so far since the secondary level of care in healthcare has the most information systems in place. Risk Management in Regional Healthcare Networks (RHN) is much more complicated as the RHN Information Systems constitute cross-organizational Information Systems and mostly depend on the Interoperability of the existing and new information systems. In this paper we mostly deal with technological threats that concern the data and processes in a regional environment. Correlation of data and processes implies that threats affect both data and the correlating processes. In the case study we present the risk assessment process for the 2nd Regional Healthcare Authority of Central Macedonia in Greece. The environment of this authority comprises diverse information systems (IS) that have to be integrated through middleware mechanisms in order to support qualitative health services. High level management should follow the presented analysis as a framework to guide the ongoing implementation efforts and evaluate the cost of the project. In addition, service level agreements should incorporate the proposed guidelines and countermeasures. Finally, from this analysis it is clear that the efficient mapping of data and correlated processes is a crucial success factor in the implementation of such a complex IT project like the implementation of a Regional Healthcare Information System.

Keywords: Information Services, Management, Hospital Interoperability, Radiology, Image Segmentation.

Abstract: An efficient information sharing environment can enhance interoperability within any organization. Healthcare organizations and hospitals, in particular, are no exception. Indeed, managing hospital processes, through the appropriate techniques, may provide the basis for designing information services that can support healthcare provision. Radiology information services aid in exploding imaging modalities, generate views from different anatomical structures contained in CT data sets and perform treatment plan techniques. Important issues for the design of such information services include a) the extraction of the corresponding data from the image and b) accurate definition of the target volumes as well as organs at risk for the treatment outcome. Implementation of this radiology information could be achieved by using simulators, which are medical devices used in the oncology clinics to perform the simulation for the external beam radiotherapy treatment. Virtual Simulators in particular offer a excellent cost benefit ratio for a clinic and further assist physician to detect the tumor site from different viewpoints to design orientation, to evaluate treatment, to calculate the dose distribution around tumor and finally to design an effective planning. The implemented high-end visualization techniques allow the users to simulate every function of the real simulator, including the mechanical component movements, radiation beam projection and fluoroscopy. In this work, a hospital process map is provided and a twofold study is conducted: A. Information management for supporting the interoperability of hospital processes; and B. Design radiology information services through image segmentation techniques. Thus, we present a process that can be used for the accurate semi-automatic segmentation of the important target in use organs (like skin, lungs, spinal canal, and bronchus) in three dimensions from CT images. Our clinical experience is described using patient example (breast cancer). The advantages of virtual simulation system over classical simulation would be presented, and the clinical effectiveness would be emphasized.

Keywords: Syntactic and Semantic Interoperability, Healthcare Information Systems, Multi-facet Information.

Abstract: This paper suggests a new approach for the development of healthcare information standards, which is based on widely used and open frameworks. The paper attempts a review of existing standards for healthcare information, analyses their deficiencies and focuses on the need for interoperability. Healthcare information, in order to be useful, has to be well formed, valid and flexible. Healthcare information standards are the pre-requisites for well-formed ness and validity of information. Flexibility expects "plug-and-play" information, which will be operable in any system, any time and any place. A standard that will be accepted world-wide and will cover all possible aspects of healthcare information needs sounds both infeasible and inconvenient due to its size and complexity. A more practicable solution is to provide an interconnection mechanism on top of all existing and future standards. This work specifies the two fundamental problems of information interoperability, which are structure and semantics, and suggests a mechanism that facilitates the integration of existing information, the mutation and transfer of information between healthcare information systems and eases interoperability.