Topics relating to standards, integration and medical vocabularies. Basic interoperability is the simple exchange of messages between systems. Functional interoperability is not only the exchange of messages‚ but also includes a common structural definition for message fields. This level of interoperability is commonly achieved through the use of integration engines‚ which utilize standardized message formats‚ such as HL7‚ to allow the context of the data to be interpreted. Semantic interoperability‚ the highest level‚ is more than simple message exchange – or even message exchange with a common field structure definition – semantic interoperability happens when message fields are populated with standard codes. At this level‚ both the context of messages and the meaning of data content within the message fields can be interpreted‚ enabling multiple computer systems to translate and understand shared data with little to no information loss. Semantic interoperability allows us to understand and use information across various domains‚ enterprises and computer systems.