Messaging standard requirements for electronic health records in Islamic Republic of Iran: a Delphi study

The present descriptive-comparative study was conducted to give an overview of the messaging standards that are necessary for interoperable electronic health records (EHRs). We designed a preliminary model after data collection and compared the messaging standards of Health Level Seven (HL7) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The data were assessed with the Delphi technique. A comprehensive model for the messaging standards of EHRs in the Islamic Republic of Iran was presented in three pivots: structural characteristics (standard for all EHRs, XML-based and object-oriented messages, and dual model); model specifications (reference model, archetypes and classes of reference model), and general features (distinct ontology, mapping with other standards, and using reference archetypes for exchanging documents). In conclusion, we gave an overview of messaging standards for the interoperability of EHRs and experts selected ISO13606 as a suitable standard for the Islamic Republic of Iran.