The standards movement builds momentum.

The success of efforts to build health information networks and to implement computerized patient records will hinge on the development of standards for the electronic format and content of financial and clinical transactions. Without standards, sharing data among disparate systems will be extremely cumbersome, and drawing conclusions based on research will prove difficult. For years, several volunteer groups have been toiling to develop these standards. These efforts are beginning to pay off. This special report summarizes the latest trends in standards development. This series of stories includes an update on efforts to develop standard data sets for financial and administrative transactions; a guide to the jargon of health care electronic data interchange, an overview of efforts to speed the development of standards for computerized records; and a case study of a hospital implementing one set of clinical standards.