Computers are the necessary substrate for everything that occurs in cardiology and vascular disease 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. 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.
