Re: [stdsreg] committee introductions

[Liora Alschuler <liora@the-word-electric.com>]

Hi, Everyone,

I am a list subscriber with a mandate from an SDO to monitor this
activity.

The SDO is Health Level Seven, a 15 year old ANSI-certified standards
body. We are responsible for a wide range of specifications promoting
interoperabilty and exchange of information in healthcare. The parent
organization is US-based and we have affiliates in, I believe, 15-17
countries (the number is growing rapidly) around the world. 

Historically, our primary specifications have addressed application
messaging in the domain of clinical and administrative information. Our
core set of standards in this area, known as the HL7 Version 2.x series,
has been recommended as the core of the Patient Medical Record
Information (PMRI) to the US Dept of Health & Human Services by the
National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics as part of the HIPAA
process and has legal stature in several countries. 

Currently, we are moving this messaging specification set, which contains
hundreds of individual messages, to a new level based on a single
information model, the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM) with an XML
implementation syntax. The first RIM-based XML specification is actually
not a messaging spec, but a new document-based specification for
clinical information -- the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (ANSI/HL7
CDA R1.0-2000). 

We also have specifications covering context management (CCOW) and
decision support (Arden Syntax). 

More information on HL7 can be found at
www.HL7.org; my
presentation from XML '01 on the first ballot for the model-based specs
(Bringing a (Massive) Model-based Specification to Ballot) is available
at 
http://www.hl7.org/Library/Committees/marketing/HL7_XML_01.ppt

In private life, I am a consultant in the application of XML-based
technology within healthcare. Within HL7, I co-chair the Structured
Documents Technical Committee, responsible for the CDA, and chair the
Board-appointed marketing committee. I was a founding member of the
original "SGML SIG" which later spawned not only the Structured
Documents TC, but also the current HL7 XML SIG. 

I am very pleased to see the agenda that Karl and this committee are
embarking on and believe that it will be a substantial contribution to
the advancement of standards across all industries. It is only a question
of personal bandwidth that prevents me from participating activity as a
committee member. If I can be helpful in some small way without the time
committment required for formal committee membership, I will be happy to
do so, and anticipate that HL7 will be an active participant at some
point not too far down the road. 

regards,

Liora

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Liora Alschuler

alschuler.spinosa

Co-chair, HL7 Structured Documents TC

Chair, HL7 Marketing Committee

POB 177, 3611 Route 5      

E. Thetford, VT 05043 

802/785-2623    

liora@the-word-electric.com       

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