Redwood MedNet :: Glossary S

S/MIME - Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions, defined by RFC 5751. See MIME, RFC

S&I - The Standards and Interoperability Framework is a broad informatics initiative led by ONC to harness community collaboration to rapidly solve major health data informatics challenges. See Informatics, ModSpec, ONC

SaaS - Software as a Service. See Cloud Computing, Grid

SAML - Security Assertion Markup Language.

SASL - Simple Authentication and Security Layer, RFC 4422. Application protocols that support SASL typically also support TLS. See RFC, TLS

SBCCDE - Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange, one of the conceptual pioneers for HIE services, funded by CHCF, launched in 1998, closed in 2006. In 2007 staff from Redwood MedNet helped lead a project to develop a prototype open source master person index software package for CHCF from the legacy software that was custom developed by the SBCCDE project. In 2008 CHCF donated the open source MPI software to Open Health Tools (OHT). See CHCF, HIE, MPI, OHT, OpenEMPI

Schema - In computer science a schema may be a data model or diagram that represents the tables, fields, indexes, etc. and their relationships. Another type of schema is the definition of the structure, content and semantics of an XML document. See Database, Model, XML

SDE - State Designated Entity. See ARRA, Cal eConnect, CHeQ, HITECH

SDK - Software Development Kit.

SDO - Standards Development Organization. See ANSI, ASTM, DSTU, HL7, IEEE, ISO, OASIS, OMG, W3C

Semantics - In computer science semantics describes the processes a computer follows when executing a program in a specific programming language. Semantics describe the relationship between the input and output of a program, or explain how the program will execute on a certain platform, hence creating a model of computation. See Model, Ontology, Semantic Web, Taxonomy, Terminology

Semantic Web - A common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. The Semantic Web, based on RDF, is a collaborative effort led by W3C. See Metadata, RDF, Semantics, W3C

Sensitivity - Optimizing for the maximum percent of data elements correctly identified as matching a given attribute (i.e., true positives) out of all possible correct matches of any two data elements. Sensitivity seeks to minimize the occurrence of false negatives. See Disambiguate, False Negative, PPV, Specificity

Sentinel Network - A syndromic surveillance service begun by the CDC in 1994. No longer active. See Biosurveillance, CDC, DPEI

Server - Either a software application that performs a specific task (such as EHR, email, website hosting, etc.) or the physical hardware on which a server software application runs, or both. See ASP, Client-Server, PC

SFTP - Commonly called the "Secure File Transfer Protocol" but technically defined as the "SSH File Transfer Protocol" which indicates use of FTP over a cryptographically protected Secure Shell (SSH) connection. See FTP, SSH

SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language.

SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm.

Shall - An imperative defined by RFC 2119. See Imperative, Must, RFC

SHARP - The Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects were four innovative research projects funded by ONC under the HITECH act. The SHARP projects each address a well-documented problem that impedes the adoption and usability of health IT. The SHARP investigations were launched in 2009 and completed in 2014. See HITECH, ONC, SHARP-C, SHARPn, SHARPS, SMART

SHARP-C - SHARP research investigation into patient-centered cognitive support led by the National Center for Cognitive Informatics & Decision Making in Healthcare at University of Texas, Houston. A summary of SHARP-C will be presented by Dean Sittig at the 2014 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP

SHARPn - SHARP research investigation into secondary use of EHR information led by Mayo Clinic. A summary of SHARPn was presented by Christopher Chute at the 2013 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP

SHARPS - SHARP research investigation into security and health information technology led by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A summary of a portion of the SHARPS investigation was presented by Mark Frisse at the 2013 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP

SHIN-NY - [ "shine - ee" ] Statewide Health Information Network for New York. See HEAL-NY, NYeC

Should - An imperative defined by RFC 2119. See Imperative, May, RFC

Signal - In electronics, a signal is a time-varying or spatial-varying system that facilitates the transmission, storage and manipulation of information. See Analog, Channel, Message, Noise, Symbol, Syndrome

Simple Interop - A term which arose in a series of blog posts by David McCallie and Wes Rishel. Simple Interop refers to the opportunity for pervasive adoption of incrementally useful health data interoperability tools. See FHIR, NHIN Direct

SLA - Service Level Agreement.

SMART - SHARP research investigation into health care application and network design led by the informatics program at Boston Children's Hospital. "SMART" is an acronym for Substitutable Medical Applications & Reusable Technology . A summary of the SMART investigation was presented by Joshua Mandel at the 2012 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP

SME - Subject Matter Expert. See Expert System

SMS - Short Message Service, a communication component of the GSM mobile communication system. See GSM, TXT

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an Internet standard for email transmission across Internet Protocol (IP) networks. For outgoing mail transport SMTP typically uses TCP port 25. SMTP is specified in RFC 2821. See Email, Internet, IETF, RFC, TCP/IP

SMS - Short Message Service, originated in 1985 as a text messaging standard under GSM for use between GSM handsets. Support for SMS has expanded to include CDMA and other communication networks. See CDMA, GSM, TXT

SNF - ("sniff") Skilled Nursing Facility. See Long Term Care

SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol, specified in RFC 3411. See RFC

SNOMED - The Systemized NOmenclature of MEDicine was initiated in 1973 by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). In 2007 IHTSDO acquired the intellectual property of SNOMED CT and all antecedent SNOMED versions. See CAP, IHTSDO

SNTP - Simple Network Time Protocol, specified in RFC 2030. See RFC

SOA - In software engineering, a Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) leverages distributed and modular program components which communicate via a simple and lightweight communication "service" (hence the name). SOA solutions can be rapidly assembled from ad-hoc components, provide systems engineers with agile options in variable or evolving environments (such as health care), and yet SOA solutions also can be robust and scalable. SOA solutions are in contrast to monolithic or enterprise solutions, which may lack flexibility or adaptability. See ESB, Grid, SOAP, WSDL, XML

SOAP - [1] The structured clinical note format which organizes content in Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Planning (SOAP) categories, first proposed in 1968 by Lawrence Weed, MD, as a feature of the Problem-Oriented Medical Record (POMR). [2] Simple Object Access Protocol, a distributed message processing solution used extensively to transport data between different and incompatible computer systems. See POMR, REST, UDDI

Software - Informal term for a computer program. See Application, Source Code

Sonogram - Sonography is an ultrasound-based diagnostic imaging technique used to visualize subcutaneous body structures. See Echocardiogram, Ultrasound

SOP - Standard Operating Procedure.

Source Code - In computing, source code is a collection of computer instructions written in a human-readable computer programming language. Source code facilitates the work of computer programming. Typically source code is transformed by a program known as a compiler into executable machine code understood by the computer. Alternatively, interpreters exist that allow a computer to run directly from source code. Most computer applications (programs) are distributed as condensed executable files without the source code. If the source code were included, it would enable a user, programmer, or system administrator to modify the software program as needed. For example, Mirth Connect, the enterprise software program used by Redwood MedNet, is written in the Java programming language. See Compiler, Executable, FOSS, Java, Language, Open Source, Program, Software

SOW - Scope of work. See WBS

Specificity - Optimizing for the maximum percent of data elements correctly identified as not-matching a given attribute (i.e., true negatives) out of all possible incorrect data element matches. Specificity seeks to minimize the occurrence of false positives. See Disambiguate, False Positive, Recall, Sensitivity

Spider - Short for "Web Spider" and synonymous with web crawler. See Bot, Web Crawler

Spoke - Term used by some vendors (e.g., eCW, e-MDs) to describe a software feature that allows a data payload to be exported from or imported into a clinical software application. See Channel, EHR

Spyware - Malicious software designed to covertly spy on a user. See Malware

SQL - Structured Query Language. See CRUD, DBMS, NoSQL

SSH - Abbreviation for Secure SHell, a cryptographically secured network protocol, defined by RFC 4250. See RFC

SSL - Secure Sockets Layer was an encryption protocol which provided secure communication on the Internet. SSL was invented by Netscape for safely conducting electronic commerce and other private asset management transactions from an Internet browser. SSL was superceded in 2008 by TLS. See HTTPS, SSH, TLS

SSN - Social Security Number.

SSO - Single Sign On.

Standard - A common English noun and adjective with discrete meanings in a wide variety of technical, cultural, and commercial settings. For example, an Internet Standard is a specification approved by the IETF. See DSTU, FHIR, IETF, ISO, SDO

State Designated Entity - See SDE

Stateless Protocol - A stateless server observes a protocol that treats each request as an independent transaction that is unrelated to any previous request. See HTTP, Protocol

Superconcept - A parent concept. See Ancestor, Concept, Descendant, Hierarchy

Supply Chain - Provisioning of a supply chain encompasses planning and management of all tasks involved in sourcing, procurement, logistics, and transport of raw materials, sub-assemblies, and finished goods. Tasks include coordination and collaboration among participants, which can include suppliers, intermediaries, third-party value added service providers, and customers. Supply chain management is an integrating function with a primary goal of linking operational functions and processes within and across organizations into a cohesive and high-performing service. Redwood MedNet approaches clinical data interoperability as a just in time supply chain provisioning use case and not as a longitudinal clinical data repository (CDR) use case. All commercial HIE software is built for a CDR use case. See CDR, Clinical Messaging, CRM, Data Repository, EDI, ERP, HIE, MRP, MRP-II

Swimlanes - A type of business process flow diagram in which activities are grouped into horizontal or vertical "swimlanes" by role or actor. For example, a swimlane diagram of a patient visit might separate individual tasks in the diagram into roles for Front Desk, Billing, Medical Assistant, Nurse, Provider, etc. See Business Process, Workflow

Symbol - An object, picture, sound, or mark that represents something else by association. For example, a personal name is a symbol representing an individual. In formal logic, "symbol" refers to an idea, and a "mark" is a token instance of the symbol. See Algorithm, Concept, Model, Signal

Synchronization - A noun describing the task of indexing two or more separate data tables so that they both contain the same records. For example, synchronizing an immunization registry with an HIE that covers the same geographic territory. See Disambiguate

Syndrome - Generally, a combination of phenomena observed in association. In medicine a syndrome is the formal association of clinically recognizable characteristics, features, phenomena, signs or symptoms that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the clinician to the possible presence of the others. See Biosurveillance, Signal

Syntax - In computer science, the syntax of a programming language is the set of rules that define the combinations of symbols that are considered to be correctly structured programs in that language.

Syslog - The syslog protocol, defined in RFC 5424, is used to convey event notification messages. This protocol utilizes a layered architecture, which allows the use of any number of transport protocols for transmission of system logging (syslog) messages. It also provides a message format that allows vendor-specific extensions to be provided in a structured way. See RFC


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	Health Informatics Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z S/MIME - Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions, defined by RFC 5751. See MIME, RFC S&I - The Standards and Interoperability Framework is a broad informatics initiative led by ONC to harness community collaboration to rapidly solve major health data informatics challenges. See Informatics, ModSpec, ONC SaaS - Software as a Service. See Cloud Computing, Grid SAML - Security Assertion Markup Language. SASL - Simple Authentication and Security Layer, RFC 4422. Application protocols that support SASL typically also support TLS. See RFC, TLS SBCCDE - Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange, one of the conceptual pioneers for HIE services, funded by CHCF, launched in 1998, closed in 2006. In 2007 staff from Redwood MedNet helped lead a project to develop a prototype open source master person index software package for CHCF from the legacy software that was custom developed by the SBCCDE project. In 2008 CHCF donated the open source MPI software to Open Health Tools (OHT). See CHCF, HIE, MPI, OHT, OpenEMPI Schema - In computer science a schema may be a data model or diagram that represents the tables, fields, indexes, etc. and their relationships. Another type of schema is the definition of the structure, content and semantics of an XML document. See Database, Model, XML Top of Page SDE - State Designated Entity. See ARRA, Cal eConnect, CHeQ, HITECH SDK - Software Development Kit. SDO - Standards Development Organization. See ANSI, ASTM, DSTU, HL7, IEEE, ISO, OASIS, OMG, W3C Semantics - In computer science semantics describes the processes a computer follows when executing a program in a specific programming language. Semantics describe the relationship between the input and output of a program, or explain how the program will execute on a certain platform, hence creating a model of computation. See Model, Ontology, Semantic Web, Taxonomy, Terminology Semantic Web - A common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. The Semantic Web, based on RDF, is a collaborative effort led by W3C. See Metadata, RDF, Semantics, W3C Sensitivity - Optimizing for the maximum percent of data elements correctly identified as matching a given attribute (i.e., true positives) out of all possible correct matches of any two data elements. Sensitivity seeks to minimize the occurrence of false negatives. See Disambiguate, False Negative, PPV, Specificity Sentinel Network - A syndromic surveillance service begun by the CDC in 1994. No longer active. See Biosurveillance, CDC, DPEI Server - Either a software application that performs a specific task (such as EHR, email, website hosting, etc.) or the physical hardware on which a server software application runs, or both. See ASP, Client-Server, PC Top of Page SFTP - Commonly called the "Secure File Transfer Protocol" but technically defined as the "SSH File Transfer Protocol" which indicates use of FTP over a cryptographically protected Secure Shell (SSH) connection. See FTP, SSH SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language. SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm. Shall - An imperative defined by RFC 2119. See Imperative, Must, RFC SHARP - The Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects were four innovative research projects funded by ONC under the HITECH act. The SHARP projects each address a well-documented problem that impedes the adoption and usability of health IT. The SHARP investigations were launched in 2009 and completed in 2014. See HITECH, ONC, SHARP-C, SHARPn, SHARPS, SMART SHARP-C - SHARP research investigation into patient-centered cognitive support led by the National Center for Cognitive Informatics & Decision Making in Healthcare at University of Texas, Houston. A summary of SHARP-C will be presented by Dean Sittig at the 2014 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP SHARPn - SHARP research investigation into secondary use of EHR information led by Mayo Clinic. A summary of SHARPn was presented by Christopher Chute at the 2013 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP SHARPS - SHARP research investigation into security and health information technology led by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A summary of a portion of the SHARPS investigation was presented by Mark Frisse at the 2013 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP SHIN-NY - [ "shine - ee" ] Statewide Health Information Network for New York. See HEAL-NY, NYeC Should - An imperative defined by RFC 2119. See Imperative, May, RFC Signal - In electronics, a signal is a time-varying or spatial-varying system that facilitates the transmission, storage and manipulation of information. See Analog, Channel, Message, Noise, Symbol, Syndrome Simple Interop - A term which arose in a series of blog posts by David McCallie and Wes Rishel. Simple Interop refers to the opportunity for pervasive adoption of incrementally useful health data interoperability tools. See FHIR, NHIN Direct Top of Page SLA - Service Level Agreement. SMART - SHARP research investigation into health care application and network design led by the informatics program at Boston Children's Hospital. "SMART" is an acronym for Substitutable Medical Applications & Reusable Technology . A summary of the SMART investigation was presented by Joshua Mandel at the 2012 Redwood MedNet Conference. See ONC, SHARP SME - Subject Matter Expert. See Expert System SMS - Short Message Service, a communication component of the GSM mobile communication system. See GSM, TXT SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an Internet standard for email transmission across Internet Protocol (IP) networks. For outgoing mail transport SMTP typically uses TCP port 25. SMTP is specified in RFC 2821. See Email, Internet, IETF, RFC, TCP/IP SMS - Short Message Service, originated in 1985 as a text messaging standard under GSM for use between GSM handsets. Support for SMS has expanded to include CDMA and other communication networks. See CDMA, GSM, TXT SNF - ("sniff") Skilled Nursing Facility. See Long Term Care SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol, specified in RFC 3411. See RFC SNOMED - The Systemized NOmenclature of MEDicine was initiated in 1973 by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). In 2007 IHTSDO acquired the intellectual property of SNOMED CT and all antecedent SNOMED versions. See CAP, IHTSDO SNTP - Simple Network Time Protocol, specified in RFC 2030. See RFC Top of Page SOA - In software engineering, a Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) leverages distributed and modular program components which communicate via a simple and lightweight communication "service" (hence the name). SOA solutions can be rapidly assembled from ad-hoc components, provide systems engineers with agile options in variable or evolving environments (such as health care), and yet SOA solutions also can be robust and scalable. SOA solutions are in contrast to monolithic or enterprise solutions, which may lack flexibility or adaptability. See ESB, Grid, SOAP, WSDL, XML SOAP - [1] The structured clinical note format which organizes content in Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Planning (SOAP) categories, first proposed in 1968 by Lawrence Weed, MD, as a feature of the Problem-Oriented Medical Record (POMR). [2] Simple Object Access Protocol, a distributed message processing solution used extensively to transport data between different and incompatible computer systems. See POMR, REST, UDDI Software - Informal term for a computer program. See Application, Source Code Sonogram - Sonography is an ultrasound-based diagnostic imaging technique used to visualize subcutaneous body structures. See Echocardiogram, Ultrasound SOP - Standard Operating Procedure. Top of Page Source Code - In computing, source code is a collection of computer instructions written in a human-readable computer programming language. Source code facilitates the work of computer programming. Typically source code is transformed by a program known as a compiler into executable machine code understood by the computer. Alternatively, interpreters exist that allow a computer to run directly from source code. Most computer applications (programs) are distributed as condensed executable files without the source code. If the source code were included, it would enable a user, programmer, or system administrator to modify the software program as needed. For example, Mirth Connect, the enterprise software program used by Redwood MedNet, is written in the Java programming language. See Compiler, Executable, FOSS, Java, Language, Open Source, Program, Software SOW - Scope of work. See WBS Specificity - Optimizing for the maximum percent of data elements correctly identified as not-matching a given attribute (i.e., true negatives) out of all possible incorrect data element matches. Specificity seeks to minimize the occurrence of false positives. See Disambiguate, False Positive, Recall, Sensitivity Spider - Short for "Web Spider" and synonymous with web crawler. See Bot, Web Crawler Spoke - Term used by some vendors (e.g., eCW, e-MDs) to describe a software feature that allows a data payload to be exported from or imported into a clinical software application. See Channel, EHR Spyware - Malicious software designed to covertly spy on a user. See Malware SQL - Structured Query Language. See CRUD, DBMS, NoSQL SSH - Abbreviation for Secure SHell, a cryptographically secured network protocol, defined by RFC 4250. See RFC Top of Page SSL - Secure Sockets Layer was an encryption protocol which provided secure communication on the Internet. SSL was invented by Netscape for safely conducting electronic commerce and other private asset management transactions from an Internet browser. SSL was superceded in 2008 by TLS. See HTTPS, SSH, TLS SSN - Social Security Number. SSO - Single Sign On. Standard - A common English noun and adjective with discrete meanings in a wide variety of technical, cultural, and commercial settings. For example, an Internet Standard is a specification approved by the IETF. See DSTU, FHIR, IETF, ISO, SDO State Designated Entity - See SDE Stateless Protocol - A stateless server observes a protocol that treats each request as an independent transaction that is unrelated to any previous request. See HTTP, Protocol Superconcept - A parent concept. See Ancestor, Concept, Descendant, Hierarchy Supply Chain - Provisioning of a supply chain encompasses planning and management of all tasks involved in sourcing, procurement, logistics, and transport of raw materials, sub-assemblies, and finished goods. Tasks include coordination and collaboration among participants, which can include suppliers, intermediaries, third-party value added service providers, and customers. Supply chain management is an integrating function with a primary goal of linking operational functions and processes within and across organizations into a cohesive and high-performing service. Redwood MedNet approaches clinical data interoperability as a just in time supply chain provisioning use case and not as a longitudinal clinical data repository (CDR) use case. All commercial HIE software is built for a CDR use case. See CDR, Clinical Messaging, CRM, Data Repository, EDI, ERP, HIE, MRP, MRP-II Swimlanes - A type of business process flow diagram in which activities are grouped into horizontal or vertical "swimlanes" by role or actor. For example, a swimlane diagram of a patient visit might separate individual tasks in the diagram into roles for Front Desk, Billing, Medical Assistant, Nurse, Provider, etc. See Business Process, Workflow Symbol - An object, picture, sound, or mark that represents something else by association. For example, a personal name is a symbol representing an individual. In formal logic, "symbol" refers to an idea, and a "mark" is a token instance of the symbol. See Algorithm, Concept, Model, Signal Top of Page Synchronization - A noun describing the task of indexing two or more separate data tables so that they both contain the same records. For example, synchronizing an immunization registry with an HIE that covers the same geographic territory. See Disambiguate Syndrome - Generally, a combination of phenomena observed in association. In medicine a syndrome is the formal association of clinically recognizable characteristics, features, phenomena, signs or symptoms that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the clinician to the possible presence of the others. See Biosurveillance, Signal Syntax - In computer science, the syntax of a programming language is the set of rules that define the combinations of symbols that are considered to be correctly structured programs in that language. Syslog - The syslog protocol, defined in RFC 5424, is used to convey event notification messages. This protocol utilizes a layered architecture, which allows the use of any number of transport protocols for transmission of system logging (syslog) messages. It also provides a message format that allows vendor-specific extensions to be provided in a structured way. See RFC

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Health Informatics Glossary