CARE-IT is a governance and operating reference model
for digital clinical infrastructure in healthcare institutions.
Version: 1.2.0
Status: Controlled Open Release
Website: https://careitmodel.org
CARE-IT provides a structured framework for the design, governance,
operation and evolution of clinically relevant digital clinical systems.
It integrates:
- Clinical effectiveness as primary objective
- Service-constellation thinking across interconnected devices and platforms
- Transparent and integrated responsibility allocation
- Patient safety as normative boundary
- Lifecycle-oriented operational sustainability
- Information integrity as clinical foundation
- Governance structures aligned with clinical reality
CARE-IT does not replace regulatory frameworks or established IT service management models.
It provides a clinically understandable governance layer that aligns digital infrastructure
with patient care reality.
CARE-IT covers:
- Networked medical devices
- Clinical service constellations (e.g. monitoring, RIS/PACS, laboratory systems)
- Integration architectures and interoperability layers
- Clinical data platforms (including CDR concepts)
- Governance, responsibility and lifecycle management of digital clinical systems
CARE-IT Version 1.2.0 defines:
- Eight Foundational Principles (P1–P8)
- Six Architectural Domains (D1–D6)
- A dual-perspective maturity model (Principles + Domains)
- Indicator-based evaluation logic (without numerical aggregation)
- A structured artifact system supporting operational implementation
- A formal Framework Governance model
- A controlled-open semantic versioning model
The normative architecture remains stable in this release.
CARE-IT is designed for:
- Clinical leadership
- Medical engineering / clinical engineering
- IT and infrastructure management
- Information security leadership
- Data architecture teams
- Governance and executive leadership
CARE-IT follows a Controlled Open model:
- The framework is publicly accessible
- Content is transparently versioned
- Releases are historically fixed via Git tags
- Structural integrity is maintained through curated development
The goal is not uncontrolled modification,
but structured evolution through interdisciplinary dialogue.
CARE-IT Framework, Version 1.2.0, 2026.
Version DOI (v1.2.0):
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18799234
Concept DOI (all versions):
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18679683
Available at: https://careitmodel.org
For citation, reference the version-specific DOI corresponding to the version used.
This repository contains the source documentation
for the CARE-IT website and framework documentation.
PDF artifacts are published exclusively via GitHub Releases.
The Git tag constitutes the historically fixed reference version.
For collaboration, discussion or contribution:
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).