GIZO (Gemeenschappelijk Informatiemodel Zorg en Ondersteuning)

Challenge

In the domain of care and support, municipalities, care providers, care offices, and central government collaborate through four different iStandaarden: iWlz (long-term care), iWmo (social support), iJw (youth care), and iPgb (personal budget). Each of these standards acquired its own information model, shaped by its own history and legislative framework. The consequence: concepts such as “client”, “allocation”, “delivery”, and “decision” appear in all four, but nowhere with exactly the same meaning. Zorginstituut Nederland therefore received a renewed coordinating role: how do you create one shared language without overhauling the existing standards?

What we built

The Gemeenschappelijk Informatiemodel Zorg en Ondersteuning (GIZO) is an overarching semantic model that connects the four iStandaarden. It shows, per concept, where it occurs in which standard, what definition applies there, and how those definitions relate to one another. By aligning with the Gemeentelijk Gegevensmodel (GGM), the connection is also made with the broader municipal domain, where many of the same clients and case files recur. The model is developed in close collaboration with the GGM designers and the Ketenbureau i-Sociaal Domein.

Key design decisions

• Harmonise, not replace. GIZO does not supersede iWlz, iWmo, iJw, and iPgb; it sits on top. The existing standards remain managed by their respective domains; GIZO makes explicit where they converge and where they do not.
• Bridging to the GGM. Care and support do not end at the service delivery chain; they touch municipal processes in their full breadth. By semantically connecting GIZO and the GGM, cross-sector data analysis becomes possible without each municipality having to build the bridge itself.
• Concept first, implementation second. The model starts with shared definitions; technical representations (UML, JSON Schema, linked data) follow from those agreements, not the other way around.

Results and adoption

GIZO is being positioned by Zorginstituut Nederland as the shared semantic layer beneath the iStandaarden. The programme runs through 2025 and 2026, resulting in a harmonised conceptual framework that chain partners (municipalities, care providers, care offices, software vendors) can use to anchor their own models and integrations.