SPOTLIGHT: Semantic interoperability

Attention EMR developers and integrators: Interoperability comes in three flavors. There's technical interoperability, computable semantic interoperability and process interoperability. The semantic kind may seem exceedingly difficult to achieve, but a thorough understanding of what HL7 and Snomed CT are--and are not--can help, according to British IT standards expert Tim Benson. He has a new book on HL7 and Snomed coming out in November, but Benson is sharing some advice now. Commentary