The European project ORCHESTRA intends to create a new pan-European cohort to rapidly advance the knowledge of the effects and treatment of COVID-19. Establishing processes that facilitate the merging of heterogeneous clusters of retrospective data was an essential challenge. In addition, data from new ORCHESTRA prospective studies have to be compatible with earlier collected information to be efficiently combined. In this article, we describe how we utilized and contributed to existing standard terminologies to create consistent semantic representation of over 2500 COVID-19-related variables taken from three ORCHESTRA studies. The goal is to enable the semantic interoperability of data within the existing project studies and to create a common basis of standardized elements available for the design of new COVID-19 studies. We also identified 743 variables that were commonly used in two of the three prospective ORCHESTRA studies and can therefore be directly combined for analysis purposes. Additionally, we actively contributed to global interoperability by submitting new concept requests to the terminology Standards Development Organizations.

Information has become the vital commodity of exchange in recent decades. Medicine is no exception; the importance of patient information in the digital form has been recognized by organizations and health care facilities. Almost all patient information, including medical history, radiographs, and feedback, can be digitally recorded synchronously and asynchronously. Nevertheless, patient information that could be shared and reused to enhance care delivery is not readily available in a format that could be understood by the systems in recipient health care facilities. The systems used in medical and dental clinics today lack the ability to communicate with each other. The critical information is stagnant in isolated silos, unable to be shared, analyzed, and reused. In this article, we propose enabling interoperability in health care systems that could facilitate communication across systems for the benefit of patients and caregivers. We explain in this article the importance of interoperable data, the international interoperability standards available, and the range of benefits and opportunities that interoperability can create in dentistry for providers and patients alike.