What is CCD :
> CCD – Continuity of Care Document.
> An electronic document exchange standard.
> Shares patient summary information among providers and within personal health records.
> Information about current and past health status
> Can be shared by all computer applications, from web browsers to EMR/EHR.
> CCD specification contains U.S. specific requirements; its use is therefore limited to the U.S.

Confused with CDA/CCR?
> CDA – Clinical Data Architecture (HL7 v3)– By HL7 standard group
> CCR – Continuity Care Record – By ASTM standard group

[ CDA + CCR => CCD ] (Combines above two standard into single standard i.e. CCD)

Technical aspect of CCD
CCD specification is an XML-based markup standard intended to specify the encoding, structure and semantics of a patient summary clinical document for exchange.

The CCD is a particular type of CDA document, a summary record of care as originally defined by ASTM as CCR and then jointly developed by ASTM and HL7 as CCD.  Much of the CCD is reused in other types of documents defined by HITSP and IHE.

Competitive
> CCD and Continuity of Care Record (CCR) are often seen as competing standards.
> Google Health supported a subset of CCR.
> Microsoft HealthVault claims to support a subset of both CCR and CCD.

CCD – A complete medical record?
> Need not to be.
> Intended to include only the information critical to effectively continue care
> The complete information is broken across 17 different sections.

Main Purpose of CCD
> Primary purpose is for exchange — specifically in the content of a patient being transferred from one care setting to another.
> Exchange takes place in a secure and efficient way.