In this Issue HL7 News

HL7 News • A Retrospective on HL7’s Process Improvement Committee
By HL7 Process Improvement
Committee Co-Chairs
PIC Me Up!
A Retrospective on HL7’s Process Improvement
Committee
Liora Alschuler,
President and
CEO, Lantana
Consulting Group
Sandra Stuart,
Executive
Director Health IT
Standards, Health
IT Strategy and
Policy; Kaiser
Permanente
Information
Technology
Following is a short history of
HL7’s Process Improvement
Committee (PIC), its reason for
being, major accomplishments,
how our mission has evolved, and
a brief look ahead.
Origins
PIC was formed at the 2002
Board retreat in response to a
presentation by Steve Wagner,
Veterans Administration (VA),
at the previous working group
meeting (WGM). The new boardappointed
committee held an
organizational call in August
and the first open session at the
October 2002 WGM.
“When PIC was created, a
significant driver was that there
were widespread distrust and
concerns between HL7 leadership
(Board, Chair, Executive
Committee, etc.) and the general
membership. Many of the
practices that governed day-to-day
procedures were undocumented
or unfollowed, and there were
no clear paths to reconciliation,”
recalls Ken Rubin of Hewlett-
Packard, who was appointed a
founding co-chair, along with
Freida Hall of Quest Diagnostics.
When raising a concern over
process on behalf of the VA,
Wagner was directed to several
groups, including the Board,
Technical Steering Committee
(TSC), and Architectural Review
Board (ARB). He saw no clear path
for resolution.
“What PIC achieved was
to establish a trusted HL7
ombudsman role,” says Rubin.
“With accountability to the
HL7 Chair and the Board, and
established with enough authority
and autonomy to allow us to be
successful, we became an avenue
of corrective action.”
Early Accomplishments
The 13-page minutes document
from the first PIC WGM
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