The Standard

"Our response to interoperability isn’t just about managing data—it’s about building the future of healthcare through open standards." - Dan Vreeman, DPT, Chief Standards Development Officer, HL7 International

Last week at Civitas 2024 in Detroit, HL7 International/s Chief Standards Development Officer,Dan Vreeman, DPT, led an insightful panel session on how HL7® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) is revolutionizing interoperability. As data sharing becomes increasingly critical, HL7 is at the forefront, driving collaboration with over 45 organizations and developing 35-45 new FHIR implementation guides annually! Dan was joined by leaders from the Da Vinci Project, FAST, Gravity Project, and Helios, to discuss their HL7 FHIR Accelerator projects, including objectives and progress made to date in advancing open data standards development and interoperability.

Health Level Seven International (HL7^®), the global authority on interoperability of health information technology with members in 55 countries, announced election results for its board of directors, international council and technical steering committee during its annual business meeting at the 38th Annual Plenary and Working Group Meeting in Atlanta.

Chair-Elect

The membership selected Carol Macumber, executive vice president of Clinical Architecture, as chair-elect in 2025 and board chair for 2026-2027.

HL7 Board Member Elections

The following members were elected to the HL7 board of directors for the 2025-2026 term:

• Secretary — Yan Heras, Ph.D., principal, Optimum eHealth LLC
• Director — Gora Datta, FHL7, chairman and chief executive officer, CAL2CAL Corporation
• Director — Ken Rubin, FHL7, senior advisor, standards and interoperability, CIDMO, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Affiliate Director — Ron Parker, FHL7, chair, HL7 Canada; principal, Parker Digital Health Consulting Inc
• Affiliate Director — Line Saele​, chair, HL7 Norway; enterprise architect, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

5 Tips for Getting Your App/Pilot/Project from Idea to Implementation

Are you ready to identify healthcare partners for your real-world pilot?

Have an app developed, but don’t know how to break into healthcare?

Or, perhaps you’ve received a “yes” from healthcare, but now find yourself in a spiral of administrative approvals.

We all have impactful, valuable projects; however, at least in the case of healthcare, we are navigating an industry facing myriad challenges – financial pressure, staff shortages, regulatory compliance. Make it easy for them to work with you and you’ll find a smoother path forward.

At HL7's January’s FHIR Connectathon and Working Group Meeting, Adele Stewart and Elizabeth Sprouse of Double Lantern Informatics hosted the education session “From Ghosted to Welcomed: Developing FHIR-based solutions with healthcare technology acceptance in mind.” Here are five tips from their talk. Want the rest of the scoop? Catch the full talk here.

1. Understand workflow implications.

Build relationships with people in clinical informatics. These individuals will often help you understand workflow implications to your project that must be considered, such as:

• Will you need to save data back to the electronic health record?
• If you need to save back to the chart, how do you navigate this?
  • Where will it be saved?
  • Does the project involve a note that needs to be signed and/or support co-signature?
  • Does a Health Information Management committee need to be involved?
• Does your solution involve a clinical alert? At the healthcare site, is clinical committee review needed for new alerts?
• How will your project alter the current workflow and what training and communications must accompany go-live?

After 32 years of serving HL7 International as the Executive Director, Mark McDougall will retire at the end of this year. HL7 leadership would like to acknowledge Mark's significant contributions to the organization across the decades.

Andy Truscott, FHL7, HL7 Board Chair states, "Mark's unwavering commitment and visionary leadership have been pivotal in advancing healthcare standards and interoperability across our organization. As Executive Director, Mark consistently demonstrated an extraordinary dedication to our mission. His ability to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare informatics and standards development has been instrumental in shaping HL7 into the dynamic organization it is today. Mark's passion for improving healthcare outcomes through enhanced interoperability has not only guided our work but has served as an inspiration to us all.

As Mark prepares to embark upon retirement, we wish him all the best in his future endeavors. His legacy within HL7 will be enduring, shaping the way we approach healthcare standards and data exchange for years to come.

We acknowledge and honor his exemplary service and commitment to our cause. Thank you, Mark, for your invaluable contributions, and we wish you a retirement filled with happiness, health and new adventures."

Learn about HL7's Fonteva Implementation 

Learn about HL7's Fonteva Implementation 

Dear HL7 Members and Community,

As announced last month, we are transitioning to a new Association Management System (AMS), Fonteva, enabling us to better serve the HL7 community.

As progress continues, we want to share details with you on what to expect in the coming weeks.

What to Expect During the Transition

• More details will be shared on how to submit updates/change requests during the freeze

• Membership: applications, renewals and reactivations
  • Please contact MemberInfo@HL7.org to renew/reactivate memberships prior to October 10  
• Member updates: demographics and profiles (i.e. email and address changes, etc.)
• Organization accounts: changes including key member and/or voting members
• HL7 website accounts: creation of new accounts
  • Note that other types of HL7 service accounts such as Atlassian can still be created
• Purchase of OIDS
  • Please contact MemberInfo@HL7.org prior to October 10 to purchase or wait until October 31
• Registration: events and education offerings
  • Alternative registration steps will be announced
  • Questions can be directed to Sadhana Alangar, PhD, Director of Education

HL7^® International, the global authority on interoperability of health information technology with members in 55 countries, announced election results for its board of directors, international council  and technical steering committee during its annual business meeting at the virtual 36th Annual Plenary and Working Group Meeting last week in Baltimore.

Chair-Elect

• Julia Skapik, M.D. M.P.H, chief medical information officer, National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), was selected by the membership to serve as the chair-elect in 2023 and as the board chair, 2024-2025.

Learn about HL7's Fonteva Implementation 

Dear HL7 Members and Community:

We are pleased to share that next month we will begin the transition to a new Association Management System (AMS), Fonteva, enabling us to better serve the HL7 community. 

Fonteva Quick Facts

• Replaces the current AMS (GoMembers)
• Built on Salesforce, offering a more versatile platform
• Will not replace the current HL7.org website
  • Some sections related to membership and registrations will have a  new look and feel