Value Set Definition Standard Project

A New Normative Standard for Value Set Definitions

Overview

[From the PSS] Describe the elements that make up a “Value Set Definition”, and ballot this as a normative HL7 specification, including a demonstration of how this is met in FHIR profiles and HL7 Model Interchange Format (MIF).

The definition of value sets is a required activity in completing the specification of most health information technology artefacts. To date, the approach for doing so has not been consistent within HL7 constructs and elsewhere. Many of the required elements and approaches are embedded in existing HL7 artefacts but not consistently. Currently, an explicit list of all the fields in an HL7 value set definition are surfaced only in the informative balloted MIF, with a general description of them in the normative Core Principles specification. A more accessible and standardized list of these fields is required to facilitate interoperability and sharing of value set definitions across HL7 artefacts and the Health IT community at large.

Success criteria: Publishing of the normative standard, and a demonstration of value set definitions that conform to this published normative specification.

Project Processes

Conference Call Schedule and Minutes

Weekly meeting to occur Wednesdays 3-4pm ET

Phone: +1 770-657-9270, Participant Code: 598745
Webmeeting Info:
Topic: HL7 VSD weekly meeting
Date & Time: Wednesday at 13:00 UTC-07
Duration: 1 hour
To participate, click on the link: https://go.mikogo.com/?sp=HL7vsd&sid=559756147
If the above link does not work, you can follow these steps instead to join a session:
1. Go to http://go.mikogo.com
2. Enter the Session ID: 559-756-147
3. Enter your name
4. Click "Join Session"
5. Enter the Session Password: HL7vsd

Upcoming Meeting Agenda

1. 10 min: Logistics
   1. Confirm folks are working on documenting approaches to VSD from other artifacts
   2. Given other items for discussion (below), Do we need an additional meeting time or longer meeting?
2. 15 min: Review (hopefully completed) Vocab listserv discussion on what can be members of a value set (initial set per LM on 10-30 call:)
   1. Concepts
   2. Descriptions intended for use in a system
3. 30 min: Continue Discussion on Versioning
   1. Value Set Definition - identified set of metadata elements that when changed indicate a new version of the value set metadata.
      1. Begin to discuss what value set elements are included in the definition. IE: which ones, when changed, result in a new definition identifier
   2. Value Set Expansion - Based on 10-30-2013 discussion an expansion MAY not be reproducible for some value set definitions.
   3. How do we define what can be called a "version" and can we state what characteristics are required so that an Expansion can be considered a version?

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Minutes documents:

20131016_VSD_Minutes
20131022_VSD_Minutes
20131030_VSD_Minutes

Project Documents

The project working documents are being maintained using Google Docs. These can be found at: Links to project documents