On Tuesday, the nonprofit organization responsible for developing those standards, Health Level Seven International, said its intellectual property will be free to use, beginning in the first quarter of 2013 .

"This announcement is the most significant standards development in the past decade," said John Halamka, CIO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "It ensures that every stakeholder will have ready access to the content standards they need for meaningful use. Enormous thanks to everyone who worked on this effort."

Health Level Seven (HL7) is a series of standards and guidelines that enable hospitals to exchange healthcare information, such as electronic health records (EHRs). HL7 is also promoted by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), an international initiative by healthcare professionals to improve the way computer systems share information.

The term HL7 is also used to describe standards based on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. The IHE promotes HL7 and standards such as Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM), which is focused on enabling providers to share digital images.

The federal government's "Meaningful Use" guidelines are based on HL7. Meaningful Use is a three-stage set of rules that healthcare providers must follow in order to receive reimbursement funds and avoid penalties. The for meaningful use, or Stage 2, were released last week.