--- title: "Glossary of digital health standards and terms" canonical: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary description: "Clear definitions of the standards and terms of digital health in Mexico: NOM-024, HL7 FHIR, ICD-10 and ICD-11, de-identification, sensitive personal data, LFPDPPP, on-premise, air-gapped and data sovereignty." site: VectorVida language: en revised: 2026-07-29 --- # Glossary The norms, standards and technical terms that appear throughout this site, defined in plain language. Every entry is written to be read on its own. ## NOM-024-SSA3-2012 (NOM-024) The Mexican Official Standard issued by the Ministry of Health (Secretaría de Salud) that sets the requirements for electronic health record information systems in Mexico, including how electronic health records must be stored, exchanged and protected. It establishes privacy, security, interoperability and audit obligations that any clinical system must meet to operate in the country. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#nom-024 ## HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) (FHIR) The international health interoperability standard published by HL7. It defines resources and an API so that histories, laboratory results, medications and appointments can be exchanged between different systems. In practice it is the “common language” that keeps clinical information from being locked inside a single vendor. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#fhir ## Electronic health record (EHR / ECE) The digital record of a patient’s health history within one institution: encounters, diagnoses, medications, studies and clinical notes. An EHR is the system where that record is captured and consulted. Núcleo can be that EHR; VectorVida can also operate as the infrastructure layer that connects several EHRs to one another or applies artificial intelligence on top of them. In Mexico it is referred to as the expediente clínico electrónico (ECE). Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#expediente-clinico-electronico ## Clinical interoperability The ability of two or more health systems to exchange information and use it without loss of meaning. It requires agreement on both the transport of the data and its vocabulary: a diagnosis sent from a hospital to a laboratory must mean the same thing at both ends, which in Mexico means aligning with NOM-024 and standards such as FHIR and ICD. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#interoperabilidad ## ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision) (ICD-10 / CIE-10) The World Health Organization coding system that assigns an alphanumeric code to every diagnosis and cause of death. It is the classification Mexico uses for epidemiological reporting, billing and health statistics, which makes correct ICD-10 coding an operational requirement rather than a documentation detail. Locally it is known as CIE-10. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#cie-10 ## ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision) (ICD-11 / CIE-11) The most recent revision of the World Health Organization classification, in force since 2022. It expands and restructures ICD-10, is designed for digital use and allows greater clinical granularity. Adoption runs alongside ICD-10 during the transition, so systems usually need both codings. Locally it is known as CIE-11. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#cie-11 ## De-identification of clinical data The process of removing or replacing the data that makes a patient identifiable — name, address, CURP national ID, RFC tax ID, social security number, phone, postal code — while leaving the useful clinical information intact. It allows clinical text to be analysed, or sent to an artificial intelligence model, without exposing personal data. When the process is reversible inside the institution’s secure environment, the record can be re-linked to the correct patient. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#des-identificacion ## Sensitive personal data A category defined by Mexican data protection law that includes information about a person’s present, past and future health status. Processing it requires express consent and reinforced security measures, which means any use of artificial intelligence over clinical notes needs an explicit protection strategy. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#datos-personales-sensibles ## Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties (LFPDPPP) (LFPDPPP) The Mexican law governing how private parties may collect, use, store and transfer personal data. It requires publishing a privacy notice, obtaining consent — express consent for sensitive data such as health information — and guaranteeing the rights of access, rectification, cancellation and objection. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#lfpdppp ## On-premise (local processing) A deployment model in which the software runs on infrastructure the institution itself controls, rather than a remote third-party service. For clinical data this means the information never leaves the institution’s perimeter, which simplifies NOM-024 compliance and reduces the exposure surface. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#on-premise ## Air-gapped (network isolation) A configuration in which a system operates with no connection to external networks at all. It is the strictest level of isolation: even if a component were compromised, there is no outbound route for the data. It is used when the sensitivity of the information justifies giving up connectivity. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#air-gapped ## PHI (Protected Health Information) (PHI) A term of United States origin — from the HIPAA regulation — for health information that can be linked to an identifiable person. It is commonly used across the industry as a practical synonym for identifiable health data; in Mexico the applicable framework is the LFPDPPP and its category of sensitive personal data. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#phi ## Health data sovereignty The principle that a population’s clinical data should remain under the jurisdiction and control of the country that generates it, processed on national infrastructure. It reduces dependence on foreign vendors and keeps access to critical health information from being subject to decisions or legal frameworks in another jurisdiction. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#soberania-de-datos ## Traceability and immutable audit log An append-only record of every access to, modification of or generation of clinical information, in which entries cannot be altered or removed retroactively. It is the condition that makes it possible to audit who viewed or changed a record and when — and, in healthcare, the reason deleting a record without a trace is treated as a legal risk rather than a feature. Anchor: https://vectorvida.com/en/glossary#trazabilidad