Comparison of communication protocols in medical information exchange standards

Reviews and compares five medical information exchange standards: the HL7 standard, the American Society of Testing and Materials Medical standard (E1238), the Medical Information Bus standard (IEEE P1073), the Medical Data Interchange Standard (IEEE P1157), and the American College of Radiology and National Electrical Manufacturers Association (ACR-NEMA) standard. Each standard has its primary goal stated, and its relationship to networking protocols explored. Our conclusion is that the standards that proliferate most will be the ones which utilize a practical networking approach. These standards will focus their standardization efforts outside the communication network solution space (i.e. with minimal definition of protocol layers)