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Health Informatics Glossary
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Dashboard -
Management dashboards provide access to summary data on primary process details
in a business. Typically a dashboard also enables drill down access to the
details that are the basis for the summary view.
See
Business Intelligence
Data Center -
A facility hosting network computer systems and other telecommunications
components. Sometimes called a server farm, data centers usually include
backup power systems, redundant communication circuits, environmental
controls and perimeter security services.
See
Cloud Computing,
NOC
Data Element -
Formally, the smallest named unit of information in a transaction under HIPAA
(45 CFR § 162.103). Generally, data elements are simple or compound. Each
data element has a name, description, type, minimum, and maximum length.
See
Attribute,
HIPAA
Data Repository -
A formally structured database environment, generally with strong field level
validation and terminology standards. A repository is as formal as a data
warehouse, generally lacks the onboard querying capabilities of a data
warehouse, and yet can be agile and adaptive when queried by distributed data
sources. See
Business Intelligence,
CDR,
Data Warehouse,
Database,
i2b2,
Supply Chain
Top of Page
Data Use Agreement -
A license agreement between one participant (typically a covered entity) and a
second participant (who may or may not be a covered entity). The agreement
governs the uses of Protected Health Information (PHI) that may be exchanged
electronically between the participants using secure data network protocols.
See
Covered Entity,
DURSA,
MMPA,
Participation Agreement,
Protected Health Information
Data Validation -
A process by which incoming data must conform to a specific standard (e.g., must
be a date, or must be a number, etc.). Nonconformant data is not allowed in
fields governed by strict data validation.
Data Warehouse -
A purpose-built data repository, generally derived from production databases.
The extra steps necessary to normalize large data sets for use as a data
warehouse are intended to optimze rapid data analysis. See
Business Intelligence,
CDR,
Data Repository,
Database
Database -
Stored data organized by a schema into individual fields linked together
into records. See
Business Intelligence,
CDR,
Data Repository,
Data Warehouse,
Schema
DBA -
[1] Data Base Administrator, a functional job title in
computer operations; [2] Doing Business As, (abbreviated DBA,
dba, d.b.a. or d/b/a) is a legal term used in the United States and Canada,
meaning that the trade name, or fictitious business name, under which the
business or operation is conducted and presented to the world is not the legal
name of the person or corporate entity who actually owns the business and is
responsible for it. See
Mendocino HRE
DBMS -
Data Base Management System. See
NoSQL,
SQL
DDoS -
Distributed Denial of Service, a DoS attack utilizing multiple sources to flood
the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system. A DDoS attack requires multiple
compromised systems such as a botnet. The advantage to an attacker of using a
distributed attack are that multiple machines can generate more attack traffic
than one machine, multiple attack machines are harder to turn off than one
attack machine, and the behavior of each attack machine can be stealthier,
making it harder to track and shut down. These attacker advantages cause
challenges for network defenses. For example, merely purchasing more incoming
bandwidth than the current volume of the attack might not help, because the
attacker might be able to simply add more attack machines. See
Botnet,
DoS
DEA -
The Drug Enforcement Administration
is the division of the United States Department of Justice responsible for
enforcing federal controlled substances laws and regulations. Their jurisdiction
intersects with medicine in electronic prescribing services. See
e-Prescribing
Top of Page
Decedent -
A deceased individual, who still retains the right to the privacy of their
protected health information (PHI) under HIPAA. Covered entities may disclose
PHI to funeral directors as needed, and to coroners or medical examiners to
identify a deceased person, to determine the cause of death, and to perform
other functions as authorized by law. See
HIPAA,
PHI
Decision Support -
Computer tools or applications to augment clinical decision making by
providing evidence-based knowledge in the context of patient specific data.
Sometimes called Decision Support System (DSS) or Clinical Decision Support
(CDS). See
Expert System,
Guideline,
Inference Engine,
Protocol
Decryption -
Decoding a message that has been encoded. See
Encryption,
PKI
DEEDS -
Data Elements for
Emergency Department Systems is an effort to develop uniform specifications
for data entered in emergency department (ED) patient records. Current
emergency care data exchange specifications, external reporting requirements
and recommendations are fragmented and often spontaneously evolve in an ad-hoc
fashion with multiple organizations developing incompatible data standards.
The HL7
Emergency
Care Work Group is currently working to move DEEDS through the balloting
process. See
CDC,
ED,
HL7
De-identified Data -
Data that is intended to neither identify nor to provide a reasonable basis to
re-identify the source individual. However, recent research has shown that some
"de-identified" data sets can be re-identified due to the abundance of new
social networking data on individuals. See
Anonymize,
Limited Data Set,
Re-identified Data
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Descendant -
A concept that is located "below" another concept in a designated concept
hierarchy. See
Ancestor,
Concept,
Hierarchy,
Terminology
DHCP -
Decentralized Hospital Computer Program, the name adopted in 1981 at the VA
for a deliberate plan and methodology established in the 1970s for the
decentralized evolution and refinement of computerized clinical-application
modules, and their progressive integration into a complete medical-information
system for a hospital or clinic. By 1985 all VA Medical Centers were running
DHCP. In 1994 DHCP was formally renamed VistA. See
Hardhats,
VA,
VistA,
VLER
DHCS -
The California Department of Health Care
Services is the agency that oversees
Medi-Cal. The mission
of DHCS is to protect and promote the health status of Californians through
the financing and delivery of individual health care services. DHCS is an
operating division of CHHS. See
CHHS,
Medi-Cal
DHHS -
Department of Health and Human Services, the title of both the US federal
agency and the California state agency. See
CHHS,
HHS
DHIMS -
Defense Health Information Management
System. See
CHCS,
DoD
DHTML -
Dynamic HTML. See
AJAX,
HTML
Dialup -
Sometimes spelled dial-up, a computer to computer connection over a legacy
analog circuit which requires only modems and telephone lines. Useful in
rural and frontier regions which lack broadband access to the Internet.
Dialup is too slow for video, VOIP (e.g., Skype) or other modern technologies.
See
Analog,
Broadband,
POTS,
VOIP
DICOM -
Digital Imaging and
Communications in Medicine is the international standard for medical
images and related information (ISO 12052). DICOM was developed in 1993 and
is maintained by the National Electrical
Manufacturers Association (NEMA). DICOM defines formats for medical images
that can be exchanged with the data and quality necessary for clinical use.
DICOM has revolutionized the practice of radiology, allowing the replacement
of X-ray film with a fully digital workflow. See
ISO,
NEMA
Digital -
A digital signal is discrete in time and amplitude, as opposed to an analog
signal, which is continuous. See
Analog,
DSL
Top of Page
Digital Certificate -
A digital document issued by a certificate authority (CA) that contains the
certificate holder's name, public key and expiration date. Public key
encryption methods require digital certificates. See
CA,
Encryption,
Public Key
Digital Divide -
A common phrase indicating the gap between a group or community with access
to digital technology (e.g., computers, video conferencing, etc.) and others
with less access (or no access) to the technology.
Direct Project -
The Direct Project, launched by
ONC in 2010, developed specifications for a secure, scalable, standards-based
way to establish universal health addressing and transport for participants
(including providers, laboratories, hospitals, pharmacies and patients) to
send encrypted health information directly to known, trusted recipients over
the Internet. The specifications were released in 2011 under the title
Applicability
Statement for Secure Health Transport. See
DirectTrust,
ModSpec,
ONC
DirectTrust -
DirectTrust.org is an
independent non-profit, competitively neutral trade association formed by
and for the Direct community. DirectTrust.org intends to carry out its mission
in a manner entirely consistent with the governance rules and regulations for
the Direct Project and the NwHIN as promulgated by HHS, ONC, and the mandates
of the HITECH Act. See
Certificate Authority,
Direct Project,
HHS,
HITECH,
NwHIN,
ONC
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Disambiguate -
To remove uncertainty from ambiguous data; specifically in health data to
assert that two values are identical. For example, linking the health record
of "Patient 1" at "Practice A" with the health record of "Patient 6" at
"Practice B" because they are the same person "disambiguates" the patient
identities. See
Algorithm,
MPI,
Sensitivity,
Specificity
Disclosure -
The release, transfer or provision of access to protected health information
(PHI). Disclosure applies to persons or organizations who receive PHI from a
covered entity or from the covered entity's Business Associate (BA)s.
See
Business Associate,
Covered Entity and
PHI
Disease Management -
A coordinated and proactive approach to managing care and support for
patients with chronic illness (e.g., diabetes, asthma, HIV/AIDS, etc.).
See
CDS
Disease Registry -
A purpose built clinical data repository focused on patients with
chronic illness (e.g., diabetes, asthma, cancer, etc.). Modern
BI tools and distributed query services now enable the creation of
virtual registries by leveraging HIE services.
Distribute -
The Distributed Surveillance Taskforce for Real-time Influenza Burden Tracking
and Evaluation (Distribute) was a community-based public health information
system and network of users organized and supported by the International Society
for Disease Surveillance (ISDS) to conduct electronic population-level emergency
department (ED) syndromic surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI).
See
Biosurveillance,
ISDS,
ILI,
Syndrome
Top of Page
DMH -
The California Department of Mental
Health is entrusted with leadership of the California mental health
system. DMH is an operating division of CHHS. See
CHHS
DMHC -
The California Department of Managed Health
Care is the California agency that oversees health care for the 20 million
people who belong to managed health care plans. DMHC is an operating division
of the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency.
DMZ -
In computer security the "demilitarized zone" or DMZ is a physical or logical
subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external services to a
larger untrusted network, usually the Internet. Typically managed by a
"firewall" the purpose of a DMZ is to add an additional layer of security to
an organization's perimeter so that an external attacker only has access to
facilities or content in the DMZ, rather than to internal network services.
See
Firewall,
Router
DNS -
The Domain Name System, defined in
RFC 1034, is a hierarchical
naming service that translates Internet domain names (host names that are
meaningful to humans) into binary address strings associated with specific
network address locations. See
Internet,
RFC
DNT -
Do Not Track is [1] a request header field employed as an HTTP
mechanism for expressing user preference regarding tracking, [2]
an HTML DOM property to make that expression readable by scripts, and [3]
an API that allows scripts to register site-specific exceptions granted by
the user. See
API,
DOM,
HTML,
HTTP
DOB -
Date of Birth. See
PHI
DoD -
The United States Department of
Defense is the Cabinet level agency, headquartered at the
Pentagon
in Virginia, that commands the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
See
CHCS,
DHIMS,
TATRC,
USAF
DOM -
The Document Object Model is a platform and
language neutral interface that allows programs and scripts to dynamically access
and update the content, structure and style of documents. The W3C DOM Working
Group was closed in 2004 after completion of the DOM Level 3 Recommendations.
The WebApps Working Group is the
successor activity at W3C.
See
DNT,
HTML,
W3C,
WebApps
DOQ-IT -
The Doctors Office Quality Information Technology program was operated by
CMS. DOQ-IT ended in April 2009.
See
CMS
Top of Page
DoS -
Denial of Service (DoS), in computing, is an attack that seeks to make a
machine or a network resource unavailable to its intended users. There are
many ways to launch and sustain a DoS attack. As a term, a DoS attack is sent
by one system or person, while a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack
is sent by two or more systems (typically bots) or persons. See
Bot,
DDoS
DPEI -
Division of Preparedness and Emerging
Infections at the CDC. See
Biosurveillance,
CDC
DQ -
Document Query is part of the IHE query-exchange profile. See
CONNECT,
DR,
IHE,
NwHIN,
PDQ
DR -
Document Retrieve. See
DQ,
IHE
DRM -
Digital Rights Management, a generic term for access control technologies
employed by copyright holders to limit the use of digital content. Some DRM
technologies are controversial and have led to sprawling legal and court
battles over alleged anti-competitive practices by copyright holders.
See
cc,
Copyright,
EFF,
Free Software,
Intellectual Property
DSL -
Digital telephony technology initially developed as "Digital Subscriber Loop"
and later marketed to consumers as "Digital Subscriber Line." By segregating
digital signals into separate bands on a single circuit, DSL can provide both
voice and data services on the same copper wire. See
Broadband,
Dialup,
POTS,
WiMAX
DSMO -
Designated Standards Maintenance Organizations are named by HHS to maintain
code sets and transaction standards. See
HL7,
NCPDP
DSS -
See
Decision Support
DSTU -
Draft Standard for Trial Use, an early milestone in the development of a
technology standard.
See
ISO,
SDO,
Standard
DURSA -
The Data Use and Reciprocal Support Agreement is a production document for
the NwHIN. The DURSA was developed by ONC.
See
NwHIN,
NwHIN Exchange
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