ivy.connect: A software package for straightforward networking

Fraunhofer ISST has been active in the field of international standards for more than 15 years. It has now bundled this extensive expertise in a software package (suite). iVY.CONNECT is a collection of tools for implementing infrastructures based on IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise). It consists of client and server modules.

Individual components of iVY.CONNECT are already being used in projects and products of our cooperation partners. Sub-components were successfully tested in the solutions of our partners in the course of the IHE Connectathon (CAT) in 2016 (Bochum) and 2018 (Den Haag). As a standalone product, iVY.CONNECT was successfully tested at EU CAT 2019 in Rennes, 2021 virtual and 2022 in Montreux.

The challenge

Interoperability plays a crucial role in the digitization of healthcare. The implementation of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profiles is an established approach in order to reach this goal with multivendor capability. This makes the integration of IHE-compliant interfaces a recurring requirement in numerous software and infrastructure projects. Technical and structural complexity makes this a considerable challenge.

Your advantages

Straightforward client applications
There is a complete data model for each profile. A simple programming interface abstracts the complex IHE structures and enables the efficient implementation of IHE client systems. The software implementation of iVY.CONNECT supports straightforward interaction with commonly used technology stacks such as Jakarta Enterprise Edition (formerly Java EE), Spring, or Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi).

The client module supports the following IHE profiles:

• Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS.b),
• Patient Demographics Query HL7 v3 (PDQv3),
• Patient Identifier Cross-Reference HL7 v3 (PIXv3),
• Healthcare Provider Directory (HPD),
• Audit Trail and Node Authentication (ATNA),
• Cross-Enterprise User Assertion (XUA),
• Document Metadata Subscription (DSUB),
• Cross-Community Access (XCA),
• Cross-Community Document Reliable Interchange (XCDR),
• Multi-Patient Queries (MPQ),
• Remove Metadata and Documents (RMD),
• Sharing Value Sets (SVS),
• Advanced Patient Privacy Consents (APPC),
• Specification of the electronic case file (Elektronischen FallAkte) in version 2.0 (EFA 2.0)

Straightforward server applications
The server module implements the IHE profiles XDS.b, RMD, MPQ, SVS, PDQv3, PIXv3, HPD, ATNA, XUA, APPC, DSUB, as well as the Electronic Case Record specification version 2.0. In addition to lightweight integration, easy connection to data sources based on MongoDB, S3 storage, file systems is possible.

Easy EFA 2.0
A complete EFA 2.0 environment can be set up with the help of iVY.CONNECT. Numerous projects are already based on our IHE suite today.

What we offer

• Non-proprietary conformity test for IHE infrastructures
• Development of IHE-compliant software components
• Licensed integration of iVY.CONNECT into own applications

References

• RZV eHealth Plattform (product)
• RZV MDK-Prüffallsoftware (product)
• DHC NRW EFA-Portal (product)
• Infrastruktur-Test der BBT-Gruppe (product)
• Help (EU EFRE NRW project)
• Falko (EU EFRE NRW project)
• I/E Health EFA-Portal (EU EFRE NRW project)
• NephroTeTe (EU EFRE NRW project)
• EPItect (BMBF project)
• GAPP (product)
• MOND (BMG project)
• SMITH (BMBF project)