8. A system according to claim 1 , wherein said attribute properties include a format attribute property comprising at least one of, (a) maximum character length of an attribute, (b) a unit of measure of an attribute and (c) a number of decimal places an attribute has.
1. A patient problem data system for storing and retrieving data representing a plurality of different patient problems for use in providing healthcare to a patient, comprising: at least one computer system including, 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; at least one 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 determining formatting or presentation of said problem attribute and a content attribute property indicating a content constraint of said problem attribute and determining modification of said problem attribute; and a retrieval processor, electrically coupled to said at least one repository, for retrieving data representing at least one patient problem from said at least one repository and communication of said problem attributes to a destination system for determining the manner in which the destination system uses the patient problem data.