Computers are the necessary substrate for everything that occurs in cardiology, yet computer technology has been implemented in a piecemeal manner.
In order to utilise the enormous capacities that computers offer in handling complex medical information, the data elements must be precisely defined and stored in a uniform manner. In cardiology, national professional societies, led by the American College of Cardiology, are developing data standards along with necessary technical specifications that will help achieve the desired goal of a fully interoperable health information network.
