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HL7_NEWS_20160111
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<strong>HL7</strong> <strong>News</strong> • A Retrospective on <strong>HL7</strong>’s Process Improvement Committee<br />
By <strong>HL7</strong> Process Improvement<br />
Committee Co-Chairs<br />
PIC Me Up!<br />
A Retrospective on <strong>HL7</strong>’s Process Improvement<br />
Committee<br />
Liora Alschuler,<br />
President and<br />
CEO, Lantana<br />
Consulting Group<br />
Sandra Stuart,<br />
Executive<br />
Director Health IT<br />
Standards, Health<br />
IT Strategy and<br />
Policy; Kaiser<br />
Permanente<br />
<strong>In</strong>formation<br />
Technology<br />
Following is a short history of<br />
<strong>HL7</strong>’s Process Improvement<br />
Committee (PIC), its reason for<br />
being, major accomplishments,<br />
how our mission has evolved, and<br />
a brief look ahead.<br />
Origins<br />
PIC was formed at the 2002<br />
Board retreat in response to a<br />
presentation by Steve Wagner,<br />
Veterans Administration (VA),<br />
at the previous working group<br />
meeting (WGM). The new boardappointed<br />
committee held an<br />
organizational call in August<br />
and the first open session at the<br />
October 2002 WGM.<br />
“When PIC was created, a<br />
significant driver was that there<br />
were widespread distrust and<br />
concerns between <strong>HL7</strong> leadership<br />
(Board, Chair, Executive<br />
Committee, etc.) and the general<br />
membership. Many of the<br />
practices that governed day-to-day<br />
procedures were undocumented<br />
or unfollowed, and there were<br />
no clear paths to reconciliation,”<br />
recalls Ken Rubin of Hewlett-<br />
Packard, who was appointed a<br />
founding co-chair, along with<br />
Freida Hall of Quest Diagnostics.<br />
When raising a concern over<br />
process on behalf of the VA,<br />
Wagner was directed to several<br />
groups, including the Board,<br />
Technical Steering Committee<br />
(TSC), and Architectural Review<br />
Board (ARB). He saw no clear path<br />
for resolution.<br />
“What PIC achieved was<br />
to establish a trusted <strong>HL7</strong><br />
ombudsman role,” says Rubin.<br />
“With accountability to the<br />
<strong>HL7</strong> Chair and the Board, and<br />
established with enough authority<br />
and autonomy to allow us to be<br />
successful, we became an avenue<br />
of corrective action.”<br />
Early Accomplishments<br />
The 13-page minutes document<br />
from the first PIC WGM<br />
20