1. A patient problem data system storing data representing a plurality of different patient problems for use in providing healthcare to a patient, comprising: an acquisition processor for acquiring data representing a patient problem for storage in a repository and a patient problem comprises a human condition needing treatment or management; a repository, electrically coupled to said acquisition processor, including data representing a plurality of different patient problems and an individual problem has a problem name and is characterized by problem attributes and an individual problem attribute has a plurality of attribute properties determining how a problem attribute is represented, said problem attributes including, a focus term indicating a topic of the patient problem, a patient problem likelihood term indicating an assessment of likelihood of the associated corresponding patient problem and a client term indicating at least one target person for care, said attribute properties including, a format attribute property indicating a format constraint of a problem attribute and a content attribute property indicating a content constraint of a problem attribute; and a retrieval processor, electrically coupled to said repository, for retrieving data representing at least one patient problem from said repository.