When is HL7 not HL7?

HL7 Working Group Meetings are fun. I think the HL7 environment is one of the best in which to develop standards. There are many reasons for this belief; most importantly is the openness and cooperative spirit of the volunteers. I have often said that if you want HL7 to create a certain standard, it is easy to do so. All you have to do is to come to the meetings, state your intentions, and work hard toward your goals. I have seen success with this approach many times.

Another important reason for the success of HL7 is that the Working Group Meetings have attracted an international group of technically astute and knowledgeable individuals who are dedicated to the standards development process. About one fourth of the attendees at these meetings come from the international community. Many of these individuals are also active in other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) and bring together some of those requirements to influence the development of HL7 standards.

The breadth and number of different HL7 stakeholders have also grown. When HL7 was formed, we thought mostly in terms of vendors and providers. The stakeholder groups now include consultants, payers, pharma, government, academicians, clinical, and others. Domain areas include medical devices, security and privacy, patient care, clinical specialties, modeling, genetics, decision support, clinical guidelines, vocabulary, data structures, documents, templates, electronic health records, and many more.

What makes the HL7 environment so productive is the availability of experts at an HL7 Working Group Meeting and the willingness to share and work together in these areas. HL7 now has many more activities than just developing messaging standards.

I often find myself trying to share with other groups my belief that the HL7 environment is the most productive for developing standards. I am not saying that HL7, as an organization, should be developing all of the standards in the world; instead, I am trying to convey that the open atmosphere, the availability of experts and interests in a number of areas, the process, productivity, and follow-up are important. Finally, I believe the amount of time available for creating standards is key. For many HL7 volunteers, an HL7 meeting starts on Sunday and runs through Friday. Days begin at 7 am and can last well into the evening. A lot of work and a lot of fun ensue as discussions continue in the lounges and bars after the formal meetings conclude.

HL7 has also become a gathering place for other groups. For many years, ISO TC 215’s Working Group 2 has met at the end of HL7’s meeting in January. DICOM now meets with this group for one day. At the recent January HL7 Working Group Meeting, two of the new Joint Initiative project groups met before the HL7 meeting. The primary reason for these attached meetings is the economic value since most of the participants of these activities also participate in HL7 meetings.

HL7 is an open and sharing organization that has a history of working with other groups. We have provided leadership and have worked with standards development organizations, terminology groups, governments, and countries.

So when is HL7 not HL7? When the environment of an HL7 Working Group Meeting is used to provide a positive working environment to bring international and multi-interest groups together to produce a seamlessly integrated world of standards.

W. Ed Hammond, PhD
Chairman of the Board, Health Level Seven, Inc®

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