HL7 Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group 
Meeting Minutes

Spring Working Group Meeting, San Antonio
6 May 2004 
Author:  Robert Greenes

Attendance:  Robert Abarbanel (IDX; robert_abarbanel@idx.com), Jim Campbell (University of Nebraska; campbell@unmc.edu), Brett Esler (PEN Computer Systems; brett@pencs.com.au), Joachim Dudek (HL7 Germany; jwd@uni-giessen.de), Bob Greenes (Partners Healthcare; greenes@harvard.edu), Tom Hooks (McKesson; tom.hooks@mckesson.com), Thomson Kuhn (ACP-ASIM; tkuhn@mail.acponline.org), Vince McCauley (HL7 Australia; vincem@mccauleysoftware.com), Rob McClure (MD Partners; rob.mcclure@mdpartners.com), Craig Parker (IHC; craig.parker@ihc.com), Ian Purves (SCHIN; ian.purves@ncl.ac.uk), David Rowed (HL7 Australia; drowed@bigpond.net.au), Sarah Ryan (NASA; sarah.a.ryan1@jsc.nasa.gov), Samson Tu (Stanford U; tu@smi.stanford.edu), Dongwen Wang (Columbia U; dongwen.wang@dmi.columbia.edu), Bob Badgett (U of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio; Badgett@uthscsa.edu), Howard Strasberg (Walter Kluwer Health; howard@skolar.com), Richard Franck (IBM; Richard.franck@us.ibm.com), Matt Sailors (U Texas at Houston; matthew.sailors@uth.tmc.edu), Dan Rossler (McKesson; dan.rossler@mckesson.com), Judy Warren (U of Kansas; jwarren2@kumc.edu), William Goossen (Acquent R&D; williamtfgoosen@cs.com).

Quarter 1

Decision-making procedures of SIG

The procedures adopted by the parent TC (Clinical Decision Support) were proposed as the basis for this SIG’s procedures without modification.  This was passed unanimously.

 

SAGE update (Bob Abarbanel presentation)

Project extended to middle of ’05 through no-cost extension granted by NIST.

Overview of guideline (GL) development, SAGE components, and mode of deployment presented.

Relies on CTS standard being balloted (a number of participants are supported by SAGE).

Sharability through CD containing GL metadata, executable logic, readable logic, test data, installation data and scripts, and tools for tailoring the GL. 

Discussion:  Sharability:  Public domain except where interfaces with IDX system.

 

Report of Prague CPG2004 Symposium (Samson Tu presentation)

Samson Tu attended the meeting in April 2004 and provided an overview.  Book of proceedings now available, Computer-based Support for Clinical Guidelines and Protocols, Amsterdam: IOS press, 2004. Panel discussed issues of standardization vs. diversity, relevant to current deliberations of SIG.

 

Order set update (Jim Campbell presentation)

Issues of logic, indication/problem indexing, strength of recommendation, prioritization, presentation layer. 

Proposal for a functional convergence model: publication/maintenance, localization of  content, presentation and clinical use, interoperation of decision support, and a structural convergence model with header and body sections.

Action items:   Cambpell to lead, del Fiol, IHC team, to have draft report by end of July.

Distribute draft copy of scope, convergent model, use cases.

                                    Preliminary surveys

User community: 

check for relevant activity in Orders and Obserations TC

                                                Vendor survey

                                                CPGA comments and convergence

                                    Telephone conferencing

McClure:  Should check with G-I-N

 

Quarter 2

 

VMR update (Craig Parker)

Status of VMR effort to date: conference calls and development of consensus data mode (API later)

Assembling a collection of use cases (Tu is point person). 

Lab value out of range alert as simple use case to define a simple VMR (using HL7 V3).

Enhance VMR incrementally for successive use cases.

Issues:  Which R-MIMs to use (see next topic), HDF methodology compliance documents in process.

 

Patient-care DIM (Dan Rossler, William Goossen)

Care Provision Domain Information Model (CP DIM) -- consider all the info need to convey if transferring care from one person to another.

  1. Care provision is the entry point/anchor
  2. Clinical statement (basic data) – labs, reports, orders, etc.
  3. Condition (episodes of illness tracking – problem tracking, etc.
  4. Working lists – problems, meds, allergies, activities (order sets):  patient-centric lists of acts.

Note that querying a VMR is querying a DIM not an RMIM (RMIMs correspond to messages).

Tu asked how to query this DIM.  Answer is that this has not been worked out and that CQ will need to provide technical help.

Rossler:  Oracle is building v.3 DB which can map v.2 messages to the DB. CDC NEDDS and QuadraMed DBs are doing similar things.

Action items:   Rossler: Draft of above to come out in July, comments by the CDS TC/CG SIG are sought.

Parker:  To interact with Patient Care TC to develop use cases to evaluate this model before the July draft, Tu is collecting use cases.

TC/SIG participants can follow discussions also via the PC TC mailing list.

DMIM for this discussion to be found on minutes of Patient Care TC for this WG meeting.

 

CPGA update (Ian Purves)

CPG is accepted as a reference architecture (CPG-RA) for the G-I-N project, Purves to lead a standardization effort.  Goal to develop use cases for it.  See http://www,cpg-ra.net.

 

PRODIGY update (Purves presentation)

Prodigy Release 2 aims to support matching of individual learning styles:  condition pathways which propose decisions and actions while in consultation, alert and reminder services, review of existing medications while prescribing, and browsing of guidance narratives.

NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT – 850M for central spine and 1.3B for each of 5 regions).

 

Guideline model standard strategy (Ed Hammond)

Funding for CDS now possible through many sources, IOM AHRQ NHII HHS focus on EHR, NLM vocabulary sole source initiative, AHRQ standards acceleration, VA, congressional initiatives.

Needs clear articulation of CDS needs and what’s different now, given the multiple failed efforts to date to create national scale effort.

Geesson: Dutch office running project with vendors as consultants.  Hammond:  HL7 could create a project office.

                                                                                                                                              

Quarter 3

 

Decision support priorities (Tu, Greenes)

Given the new momentum for healthcare IT, important to identify short-term high-impact items to focus on.

Kuhn:  participate in HIMSS IHE demo, e.g., order-set functionality.  McClure:  possibility of funding for evaluation of impact of this demo on degree of sharing, and ease of moving proven order sets into implementations.
Action items:   Campbell to take lead in defining the draft standard for order set.  Kuhn to lead in discussions with HIMSS-IHE, Abarbanel to participate.  Greenes:  In year 1, possible opportunity to trigger via emerging Infobutton standard model.  Abarbanel to coordinate development of demo proposal, make IDX commitment, Wang to ask Eclipsys, Hook to explore McKesson.  Abarbanel, Greenes to explore funding opportunities with Hammond.

Possibility of an end-to-end demo of guidelines going from markup to computable form to execution discussed.  Matt Sailors to propose a project for evaluation of existing markup tools.  

 

Quarter 4

 

No business

 



Agenda for Atlanta Meeting (27 September - 1 October 2004)
TBD
Requested meeting day:  Thursday, 30 September 2004  0900-1700.