Introduction to HL7: Story Line

The following was gathered at the May, 2007 WGM in Cologne, Germany. The education group defined a story line outline from a Health Care Executive’s point of view . The HCO was selected because they are the one’s that would pay for their resource(s) to become HL7 members.

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Health Care Organization Executive (sets the context of the whole story line)

   •  Has a system that needs to be connected/replaced
   •  Are standards the answer?
   •  If we go for HL7, what do we need to do?   What does it mean to use HL7?
   •  Standards are great because they save you money and improve safety

Integration standards enable interoperation. (refer to the “Coming to Terms” document.)

Content Chapter - Interoperability Goal

   •  Interoperability definition aspects are:
          o  Technical Interoperability – aka “mechanics”, previously known as functional  
             interoperability
          o  Semantic – insuring we say the right thing
          o  Business processes - insuring we do the right thing, making sure to implement
             the standard

The world is changing. What matters is Integration!

Content Chapter:  What are the healthcare industry challenges that HL7 standards address  

   •  Hot topics (to the health care organizations) are:
          o  Interoperability
          o  Electronic Health Records and Personal Health Records (ubiquitous)
          o  Data Warehousing
   •  Management information
          o  XML / SOA / Internet / www browser
          o  Repositories

HL7 – How does HL7 fit into it.

   •  Off the shelf standards (and how to use them)
   •  Maintaining and improving the standards
   •  Building the future

The above 4 topics are an overview to set the stage for the eLearning CD.

How do we get involved? Basically, everything is on the web. This would be the first place someone goes to get info on HL7

   •  www.hl7.org
         o  open web site – some information on the website is open to the public
         o  members only – some information on the website is private, for members only

Benefits of being a member – you get as much out of it as you put in

   •  Access to the standards
   •  Access to experts
   •  Networking
   •  Meetings
         o  Face to Face
         o  Teleconferences
         o  Tutorials
   •  Working on state of the art standards
      (work in process; inventing the future)

How to Participate?

   •  Members are both individual and organizations
   •  It’s easy to participate…Low barrier to entry
   •  Ways to participate are:
         o  Use the web
         o  Call headquarters
         o  Working Group Meetings
         o  Educational Summits

Working Group Meetings

   •  6 days, 3 times per year
   •  Face to face networking occurs
   •  International networking occurs
   •  Education
   •  Development

What Material is available at WGMs?

Organized so participants get the most out of the meetings
   •  HL7
   •  Glossary
   •  Participants
   •  Agendas / Minutes
   •  Standards
   •  Resources

Education Summit

   •  Face to face networking
   •  Education

How to find information? – Have a reference button or link on the eLearning CD

This topic is a bit redundant from one of the above topics.

   •  Website
   •  Email
   •  Telephone

Types of Standards

There is a good slide in the Orientation presentation that will help with this topic.

   •  V2
   •  V3 (CDA)
   •  Others

International / Global

   •  Affiliates
   •  ANSI
   •  ISO

Closure

   •  Go back to the first section to assist in a wrap up
   •  Provide a summary
   •  Possibly a quick quiz – Sonia would like this to be interactive.  Insures we all use
      the same semantics

Focus on the key points you want people to remember