“A health information exchange (HIE) consists of the technology, standards and governance that enable the exchange of data between the information systems of various healthcare stakeholders”- (Wager, et.al, 2009) This is since a system that corresponds to different standards cannot work with each other, therefore the need for standards was developed. Ad hoc, de facto, government mandate, and consensus are the four methods used to develop IT standards in the United States. However, with the boom of the IT industry and the introduction of the WWW and the Internet, web standards are now developed by much less formal groups. In my research, I came across a website called HLN Consulting LLC where different types of standards were explained in technical terms and rather simple terms. According to them, the first is the Process Standard, which defines how health data should be used within the organizational workflow and participates in the American Health Information Community (AHIC) interoperability example. The second is the technical standard, which defines the structure, syntax and consistency of interoperable activities. HL7 example. (HLN Consulting llc, 2013) Whereas (Wager, et.al, 2009) discussed many standards including HL7 and ASCX12N which are important for the healthcare industry, as they provide both general standards for all types of applications and specific standards focused on an application type.a) The purpose of the Health Level Seven Standard (HL7) is to develop a messaging standard to support "the exchange, management and integration of data that supports patient care." HL7 is at the highest level in the OSI network reference model, which addresses the various network problems such as data exchange, exchange timing and communication error between......middle of paper... ... also known as a decentralized model, provides greater control over healthcare data, as it is stored locally. The advantage of this system is that the failure of a single system does not affect the entire model. Additionally, the EHR system can be connected to any other system, but must accept common interface standards. However this model is very complex and very expensive. The last one is the hybrid model, as the name suggests, this model is a combination of the previous 2 models: centralized model and federated model where the data is stored in the central location but can be separated into different units, controlled by each organization which participates in data sharing. (White paper, Himss, 2009) EHR and HIE are a first for the healthcare system and it will take years to establish 100% interoperability, privacy and confidentiality of healthcare IT, but it is on the right path to success.