What refers to the process of making terminology consistent across different practices to support interoperability?

Terminology harmonization refers to the systematic process of creating consistency in terminology across various practices and disciplines. This is essential in the field of health informatics, as it facilitates clear communication and understanding among different healthcare providers, systems, and software applications. By establishing a common language, terminology harmonization supports interoperability, enabling disparate healthcare systems to exchange data effectively and accurately.

In the context of healthcare, where diverse terms might describe the same concept or procedure, harmonization helps avoid confusion and errors that could compromise patient care or data integrity. It sets the groundwork for effective data sharing, analysis, and reporting, which are crucial for improved patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency.

While data standardization pertains to ensuring that data formats and structures are uniform across different systems, and information integration focuses on combining diverse data sets into a coherent whole, terminology harmonization specifically addresses the consistency of the language itself. System synchronization usually deals with ensuring that multiple systems are operating in unison, but it does not directly tackle the issue of consistent terminology. Thus, terminology harmonization is the correct term that encompasses the goal of achieving consistency in language to enhance interoperability in health informatics.