The Standard

In a recent episode of HIMSSTV, two healthcare interoperability visionaries, Deepak Sadagopan and Duncan Weatherston, took the virtual stage to share their expert insights on the critical FHIR pathway within the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) model. This captivating discussion was led by the co-chairs of the HL7 FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), and it shed light on the transformative potential of FHIR in shaping the future of healthcare data exchange. 

Meet the FAST Community 

Before we dive into the interview, let's take a moment to acquaint ourselves with the remarkable work being done by the FAST community. The HL7 FHIR at Scale Taskforce is a dedicated group committed to identifying scalability challenges and defining solutions to overcome the barriers to broad FHIR adoption. FAST is addressing key areas like Security for Scalable Registration, Authorization, and Authentication and Interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching. The FAST community’s list of projects can be found on the FAST Confluence Project Page. An upcoming project on Consent is set to kick off soon, promising exciting prospects for healthcare data sharing. To get involved, reach out to fast@hl7.org. 

October Community Roundtable to be held October 25 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. ET

Are you interested in learning the latest on the following:

•  Clinical data exchange; coverage, transparency and burden
• Quality and risk use cases
• The HL7 Da Vinci Project’s Implementation Guide foundational assets?

If so, register now for the next Da Vinci Community Roundtable, to be held Oct. 25 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. ET. The session will offer timely updates on changes made in 2023 to the Da Vinci Implementation Guides and offer an outlook for next year.

“The Power of Collaboration: 2023 HL7 Da Vinci Project Implementation Guide Progress,” will feature presenters discussing Implementation Guide functional enhancements as well as the current status and maturity of the guides to help inform your planning for next year’s HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7® FHIR®) implementation staffing and allocations. Attendees will also learn where they can provide needed input and participation in the use cases.

The Da Vinci Project is a private-sector initiative that accelerates the adoption of HL7 FHIR as the standard to support and integrate value-based care (VBC) data exchange across communities. The goal of the project is to help payers and providers positively impact clinical, quality, cost and care management outcomes, enabling providers to see the right data at the right time for patient-centered care.

The presenters will include:

• Michael Gould, Associate Vice President, Interoperability Strategy, ZeOmega and HL7 Da Vinci Project Architectural Group Co-Lead
• Crystal Kallem, Project Manager, HL7 Da Vinci Project, and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care-Partners
• Mark Scrimshire, PDex Project Lead & Implementation Guide Lead, HL7 Da Vinci Project, and Chief Interoperability Officer, Onyx Health
• Teresa Younkin, Value Based Performance Reporting Co-Lead, HL7 Da Vinci Project PMO and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care Partners

The session is moderated by Alix Goss, HL7 Da Vinci Project PMO, and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care Partners.

Webinar Highlights Real-World mCODE®-Compatible Structured Data Capture at University of Wisconsin Madison

At the September CodeX Community of Practice, which will be held on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, 12 – 1 p.m. ET, Dr. Hamid Emamekhoo will present their approach to enhance structure data collection at University of Wisconsin Madison.

In his presentation, “Charting a New Course: Transforming Oncology Documentation to Enhance mCODE-Compatible Structured Data Capture,” he will discuss the process of creating optimized oncology specific note templates to prioritize the collection of encounter-specific treatment and disease-related data in a standardized manner. They focus on integrating data collection into the routine clinical workflow and improve the accuracy and quality of clinical documentation while collecting mCODE (minimal Common Oncology Data Elements)-compatible structure data that can ultimately improve the quality of care and patient outcomes.

The mCODE FHIR Implementation Guide is an open standard language for cancer data. Once adopted across the oncology community, mCODE promises to greatly increase the amount of high-quality shareable data for all cancer types, allowing data to be collected once and used for multiple purposes by clinicians and researchers to support patient care.

Multistakeholder Discussion Features Panelists from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Epic, Florida Blue and Providence

Is your organization planning to use FHIR APIs to support data exchange for patient cost transparency (PCT)?

Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 27, from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. for the September Community Roundtable presentation titled, “No Surprises Now: How the HL7 Da Vinci Project Accelerates Patient Cost Transparency.” Featuring a provider, payer, vendor and regulator, the multistakeholder discussion begins with an initial level setting session outlining the regulatory landscape, including the No Surprises Act, regulations and resources.

Next is a review of the HL7 Da Vinci Project’s PCT use case, which aims to develop a standard data exchange in support of patient cost transparency for devices, services and collection of services using FHIR APIs for exchange of data. The session will close with insights on the benefits of testing and implementation of PCT from the following presenters:

• Vanessa Candelora, HL7 Da Vinci Project Patient Cost Transparency Co-Lead and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care-Partners
• Tina Mintyala, Program Manager, Revenue Cycle, Providence
• Alice O’Carroll, HL7 Da Vinci Project Patient Cost Transparency Co-Lead and Interoperability Product Manager, Florida Blue
• Carmen Smiley, Health Insurance Specialist, Division of Consumer Protection Policy, Consumer Support Group, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Zackery Welch, Executive Director, Pre-Services: Providence Health and Services
• Jacob Woodford, HL7 Da Vinci Project Patient Cost Transparency Co-Lead and Technical Services, Epic

The session is moderated by Alix Goss, HL7 Da Vinci Project PMO, and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care Partners.

Hear Two Experts Discuss Real-World Genomics Data Exchange & Use Case
 Progress at Friday's Event

August brings a CodeX Community of Practice meeting that highlights advances in the Accelerator’s genomics domain, lessons learned and how the work improves research and patient care. The virtual session, which will be held on Friday, August 25, 2023, 12 – 1 p.m. ET., features two presentations:  

Advancing Genomics Data Exchange Using HL7 FHIR at the Molit Institut 

In the realm of genomic testing, most data presently is sent from the laboratory to health care organizations in the form of a PDF, which isolates this non-computable information within the EHR and limits access to the data for clinical care and research. 

Join us to hear how an early adopter of HL7 FHIR in this realm, Patrick Werner of the Molit Institut, is working to use FHIR to free the data. As a small independent non-profit research organization in Germany, Molit has received FHIR genomic reports for more than two years. Werner will share the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned with Molit’s successful genomics data exchange, including strategies implemented to ease data standards adoption across participating labs.  A review of Molit’s virtual tumor board for molecular oncology will showcase how Molit structures data and identifies possible gaps to assist identification of variants, prognosis on variants and recommendations.   

Presenter: 

Patrick Werner, Process Manager, Interoperability, Molit Institut 

Explore the Cross Accelerator Collaboration During the Discussion Aug. 23, 4 :00 – 5:30 p.m. ET

“Reducing Prior Authorization Burden and Improving Oncologic Care with HL7 FHIR,” August’s Community Roundtable, will highlight why and how Da Vinci is tackling prior authorization and hear how CodeX is leveraging the work of the Da Vinci Implementation Guides (IGs), which have been referenced in federal proposed interoperability rules, to tackle prior authorization challenges in oncology.  

 Join the session and discover the endeavors of the CodeX Prior Authorization in Oncology Use Case team to improve the care journey for cancer patients by expediting prior authorization via automation. 

The discussion will share real-world success stories from Da Vinci and how these efforts can serve as building blocks for CodeX solutions, as well as reveal how you can become involved and the benefits of participation in this work.

Presenters for this session include:

• Ellen Anderson, Enterprise Architect, Evernorth
• Kirk Anderson, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Chair, Da Vinci Steering Committee, Cambia Health Solutions
• Su Chen, MD, CodeX Program Manager, Clinical Science Principal, MITRE

Alix Goss, HL7 Da Vinci Project PMO, and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care Partners, serves as the session moderator.

Hear about the ONC’s USCDI+ Quality Initiative and learn the latest about the Quality Measures for Cancer Use Case on July 28

Latest advances in the use case and the success of Mayo Clinic’s adoption of minimal Common Oncology Data Elements (mCODE) to improve routine oncology clinical care focus of June Community of Practice

Prior authorization continues to be a pain point across the health care spectrum, and this month’s CodeX Community of Practice meeting will be highlighting prior authorization and how a standards-based approach is improving care at the Mayo Clinic.

According to a 2022 American Medical Association survey, 94% of physicians reported care delays associated with prior authorization, and 80% said these requirements can at least sometimes lead to patients abandoning treatment.

When treating cancer, the delays could be deadly.

Within CodeX, the Prior Authorization in Oncologyuse case focused on prostate cancer treatment is making strides in its iteratively phased proof-of-concept (POC). A goal of the use case is to automate prior authorization for cancer treatment so that 80% of approvals do not require manual inspection, expediting care for patients and reducing physician burden. CodeX participants are proving the utility of the Implementation Guides Coverage Requirements Discovery (CRD), Documents Template Requirements (DTR) and Prior Authorization Support (PAS) as developed by the HL7 Da Vinci Project Burden Reduction use case as well as in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services December 2022 proposed rule Advancing Interoperability and Improving Prior Authorization Processes.

The Da Vinci Project’s June Community Roundtable to be held June 28 from 4:00 – 5:30 pm ET

Representatives from athenahealth and Optum discuss the HL7 Da Vinci Project’s newest use case during the June Community Roundtable, scheduled on Wednesday, June 28, from 4 – 5:30 p.m. ET.

In addition to learning the latest project updates, attendees will learn how the Da Vinci Risk Adjustment Implementation Guide (IG) supports exchange of risk adjustment gap reports at the point of care. Attendees will discover how standard protocols, which are payer agnostic, enable communication of chronic conditions and simplified workflows. Presenters will also illustrate how providers gain the ability to share real-time feedback and clinical evidence to address gaps. An overview of the IG and a question-and-answer period will conclude the webinar.

 Presenters for this session, “Risk Adjustment Reporting at the Point-of-Care​,” include:

• Josh Lamb, Integration Architect, Optum
• Linda Michaelsen, Director, Healthcare Interoperability Standards, Optum
• Nidhi Pengoria, Senior Product Manager, athenahealth

Alix Goss, HL7 Da Vinci Project PMO, and Senior Consultant, Point-of-Care Partners, serves as the session moderator.

May Community Roundtable Will Feature Case Study on How Standardized Information Sharing Between Providers, Payers Improves Patient Care

In this month’s Community Roundtable, the HL7 Da Vinci Project will offer timely insights on achieving bidirectional clinical data exchange between payers and providers using Da Vinci’s PDex (Patient Data Exchange) and CDex (Clinical Data Exchange) implementation guides.

The virtual roundtable, titled “Improving Patient Outcomes Using FHIR: How providers are exchanging clinical data with payers to deliver better quality of care,” will be held 4-5:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 24.

This free online event will feature an implementation story from Florida Blue, healow Insights and Humana that describes how standardized information sharing improves patient care. The session will include a demonstration of clinical data exchange capabilities, such as point of care alerts and up-to-date patient histories, underscoring the value of using HL7 FHIR® (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standards to optimize electronic medical record integration to assist in achieving value-based care outcomes.