The Standard

Due to COVID-19, most of the in-person conferences have been changed to virtual events. I recently attended my first-ever fully online technology conference, the Virtual HL7 FHIR Connectathon. This article details my experience and recommendations, in general, for all future conferences post-COVID-19.

Introduction

First, let me give my kudos to HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Product Director Grahame Grieve, the planning team, track leads, FHIR community and HL7 for the  excellent execution of  the Virtual FHIR Connectathon. The conference includes healthcare data interoperability topics with different tracks, expertise and both technical non-technical skills.

I have attended many in-person conferences in the past. Over time, I realized people attend conferences for primarily for two reasons:

1. Learning new skills
2. Networking

Let me share my thoughts based on my first Virtual FHIR Connectathon experience.

Recap of the April HL7 Da Vinci Project Community Roundtable

To kick off this month’s Da Vinci Project Community Roundtable, which is slated for Wednesday, April 22, at 4 p.m. EST, Deputy Chief Health Informatics Officer at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Alexandra Mugge will provide a high-level overview of the final rule update on interoperability and patient access. It will then take an in-depth look at two use cases presented by GuideWell and Edifecs to see how organizations are using the Da Vinci Project implementation guides to streamline the exchange of information between payers and providers.

Health Level Seven (HL7^®) drives the standards upon which electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs) sit, so participation in these venues is crucial. The HL7 community already has a lot of technical input but lacks input from the clinical side – either from clinicians or clinical informaticists. There is a gap between the clinical intent of quality measures and the technical standard, but clinical informatics experts can help bridge this gap by contributing to the conversation and development of the HL7 standards and resources.

Measure development, as we know it, is changing. Quality improvement is important to keeping healthcare costs affordable and patients safe; however, it should not come as a huge burden to clinicians. Goals of electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs) include reducing the burden of manual abstraction and reporting for provider organizations, as well as fostering the goal of access to real-time data for bedside quality improvement and clinical decision support. We want to hit the “sweet spot” as depicted in this diagram: