IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical need in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.

Health Level Seven (HL7) is a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. HL7's 2,300+ members include approximately 500 corporate members who represent more than 90% of the information systems vendors serving healthcare.

CAQH launched the Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE) with the vision of giving providers access to eligibility and benefits information before or at the time of service using the electronic system of their choice for any patient or health plan.

CORE is more than 100 industry stakeholders - health plans, providers, vendors, CMS and other government agencies, associations, regional entities, standard-setting organizations and other healthcare entities. CORE participants maintain eligibility and benefits data for more than 130 million commercially insured lives plus Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

The American College of Cardiology has launched the PINNACLE Registry™, the first-ever office-based quality improvement program based on proven guidelines and performance measures. The newest registry in the ACC’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry® (NCDR), the preeminent cardiovascular data repository in the United States, the PINNACLE Registry™ is a comprehensive management system that translates data into clinical insights and provides for comparative effectiveness research, quality improvement and proven commitment to quality outcomes.

The 2006 Tax Relief and Health Care Act required the establishment of a physician quality reporting system, including an incentive payment for eligible professionals who satisfactorily report data on quality measures for covered professional services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries during the second half of 2007. CMS named this program the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). The PQRI was further modified as a result of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 and the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.

Surescripts operates the nation's largest e-prescription network and supports a rapidly expanding ecosystem of health care organizations nationwide. Surescripts connects prescribers in all 50 states through their choice of e-prescribing software to the nation's leading payers, chain pharmacies and independent pharmacies.