The Standard

Three use cases will be in the spotlight as the HL7 Da Vinci Project hosts its regular monthly community roundtable from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 27.

The session will demonstrate how organizations are using the Da Vinci Project implementation guides to streamline the exchange of information between payers and providers.

The event, “Learn How Cambia Health Solutions, HealthSparq and United are Using Da Vinci Specifications to Advance Value-Based Care,” will look at ways that HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) can be used to achieve quality measurement, provider search and lab results integration into EMRs.

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

HL7 collaborates with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) to support eCR Now through the use of HL7 FHIR in the nationwide initiative formulated for the rapid roll-out of automated electronic case reporting (eCR) from EHRs to state and local public health agencies.

HL7 is developing the SANER HL7® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Implementation Guide (IG) to support standards-based communication to emergency response authorities regarding critical COVID-19 resources such as ICU beds, ventilators and other essential equipment and treatment supplies. Audacious Inquiry is leading the development of open source solutions that will follow the SANER HL7® FHIR® IG.

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.