Ontolog Forum
(US) National Health Information Network, Request for Information - Project Home Page
Work Product
The Ontolog Community's response to the ONCHIT NHIN RFI #4150-24 (updated) - see: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/health-ont/NHIN-RFI/NHIN-ontolog-rfi-response_20050118.doc
- Executive Summary of Ontolog's NHIN-RFI response.
- text of original submission, in the record.
Most Critical Task(s) At Hand
- ... (insert content here) ...
What's New
- Brand Niemann suggested a SICoP-Ontolog joint pilot at FHA-ONCHIT meeting on Jan. 26, 2005.
- Ref. Brand's post (with background material): http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/2005-01/msg00037.html
- and continuing discussuion on starting this work at: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/health-ont/2005-01/msg00035.html
- Our response to the NHIN-RFI was delivered Jan. 18, 2005, on time (even with 4 minutes to spare before the deadline!)
- Kudos to all who were involved and contributed.
- One page "thesis" that will guide our group response
- the RFI Announcement page is at: http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/rfi.html
- a concise summary by Prof. Kroch of Dr. Brailer and other's prior work is at: http://wfs.cgu.edu/lafkyd/cgu-kroch.pdf
- EMR Definitional elements and requirements
- EMR Current state:
- Implementation goals
- Barriers
- Opportunities
- ONCHIT Framework for Strategic Action
- Data Exchange (Physician, "Physician Assistants", and Clinicians)
- CareScience Projects
- Community data sharing
- Santa Barbara County (example of most medical communities)
- Core Data Exchange
- a transcription of the Technical Assistance Call is at: http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/documents/Transcript_RFI_Technical_Assistance_Call.pdf (This is a 48 page document to be summarized;)
- key points is the needs of the Dr. Brailer Team to discover missing issues.
- Is Ontology a "Missing Issue"?
Key Date(s) to Note
- important DATE: Responses should be submitted via email to ( NHINRFI@hhs.gov ) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT), on or before 5 p.m. e.s.t. on January 18, 2005.
- Weds Dec. 22, 04 ( Agenda approved; "B" Team held ~ 5 discussion Sessions: draft answers to questions)
- Thurs Jan 6th 2005
-
- Prepare for Outline Discussion
- Prepare to capture issues with NHIN_RFI "Ontology Life Cycle"
- Issues described and "majority" of alignment conflicts resolved
- Saturday, Jan 8th 2005 Editing of Outline (Bob, Nad, others) Bob Smith
- Tue Jan 11th 2005 work session
- Clarify Health Ontolog objectives and scope of an Ontology based Approach to Health Care Bob Smith
- Resolve workgroup process (time-limited discussion and vote/polling (informal) )
- Breadth of Response (Number of sections and questions)
- Editorial process and final edit responsibility
- Thurs Jan 13th 2005
- Review and Comment cycles
- Sunday, Jan 16th 3pm PST Deadline for Question Submittals
- Merge, Synthesize, Identify alignment issues
- Circulate for Review and Comment; Phone Calls
- Mon Jan 17th 2005
- Continue discussions and refinement
- Tuesday, Jan 18th, 4pm EST eMail to Dr. Brailer
Project Mission
- To round up a joint Ontolog community effort, to author a response and submit that to the (US) National Health Information Network, Request for Information of 2004.11.15. Using that as the beginning of a collaborative effort where the Ontolog community can contribute professionally to the NHIN initiative.
Outline for Deliverables & Deadlines
- Strawman version 1 Bob Smith
- The RFI states 4 goals, key missing elements to bridge current practice to a ten year vision, and poses a Decision Scenario including:
- The NHIN could be developed and operated in many ways.
- It could include state-of-the-art web technologies or more traditional clearinghouse architectures.
- It could be highly decentralized or somewhat centrally brokered.
- It could be a nationwide service, a collection of regional services or a set of tools that share common components.
- It could be overseen by public organizations, by private organizations, or by public-private consortia.
- Regardless of how it is developed, overseen or operated, there is a compelling public interest for a NHIN to exist.
- The NHIN could be developed and operated in many ways.
- The RFI has 24 questions structured into 5 parts (But no "Problem Statement" )
- The RFI states 4 goals, key missing elements to bridge current practice to a ten year vision, and poses a Decision Scenario including:
- Team Organization
- Team 1: 3 Questions;(SMI_Mark_Adam_Samson_Natasha) Overview and working definition of a National Health Information Network for distributing Electronic Health Records:
- A. General ( Working definitions of a National Health Information Network, models of access to this Network, and appropriate roles at each level)
- Team 2: 10 Questions;( Kurt_Bo_Bob_Nad ); Enterprise Strategy, Process, Incentive Alignments:
- B. Organizational and Business Framework (Economic and Policy Criteria for developing Business and Organizational Models in a "Mixed Public-Private, Open interoperable Context )
- C. Management and Operational Considerations ( Useful and Useable Products, Policy and Managerial Incentives, Contingency-Risk Modeling, Community of Practice governance )
- Team 3: 11 Questions; ( Nicolas EdwardCherlin MarkRoest) Standards and Incentives
- D. Standards and Policies to Achieve Interoperability ( What is the current status of the major Standards Development Organizations and their processes/assumptions and relationships to each other and the US Govt... Open Standards developed in an open process )
- E. Financial and/or Regulatory Incentives and Legal Consideration __ Other ( Do conflicting policies and strategies now exist? Are new architectures and mechanisms available to resolve certain pivotal conflict areas? )
Project Work-in-Progress
- Bob Smith OUTLINE Draft # 1
- Executive Abstract-Thesis
- Problem Statement (Embracing Ontology as a means to knowledge-enabled health care systems?)
- (General) Core Technical Issues: Knowledge Applied to useful and useable Health Records and its Network
- Identify key ontology questions about Health Records (Was EHR)
- Identify key ontology questions about Health Knowledge Delivery (Was NHIN)
- Organizational and Business Framework (NOTE: ONCHIT Leadership Panel Strategy about to be published)
- Scope (Context, Feasible Strategies, and Time Frames)
- Semantics of Public-Private Ontologies
- Is Health Care Competition a major ontological problem? ( Economics of Competitive Strategy Options?)
- Alternative Views and Policy Creation Mechanisms that work
- Management and Operational Considerations
- Design and Maintence
- Is Health Care "Value Chains"
- Need for Ontologies in FHA Projects
- Institutional structures (GAO, for example, may add unexpected value to Ontology projects)
- Standards and Policies for Interoperability
- Ontology questions for Standard Setting Bodies
- Examples of effective use of Ontologies in SSB
- Interoperability and MetaStandards (Steve Ray citations)
- Incentives and Legal Issues
- Other
- Q 23: Design Principles
- Terms, Concepts, and Tools
- Ontology
- Policy
- Ontology Policy
- Etc.
- Bibliography
- need to add: conclusions and recommendations
- Brand suggested we cite the Hardvard Study on CoP in Government.
Action Plan and Chronology
- Bob Smith Monday 1-17-05: Post Action Report Format designed for next Opportunity
- Bob Smith Sunday 1-16-05: Note that many of the 24 RFI questions are now "answered" by ONCHIT Staff in their five presentations to key stakeholders "Suggestive Answers?"
- Extensions of the earlier "Framework" of 4 goals and strategies to achieving these defined goals
- Specific project thrusts with start and finish points
- Increased specification of concepts: Regional solutions; Public-Private Partnerships; CHI-eGov Architectures;
- Bob Smith Tuesday, 1-11-05: What is our primary objective?
- Convincing Dr. Brailer to use an Ontology Approach to evaluate technical and non-technical NHIN-EHR design choices
- HL7 and ICD 9 "improvements"
- A Protege based solution set
- Convincing Dr. Brailer of the links between Interoperability, Enterprise Architecture, and Ontology
- Convincing Dr. Brailer to use an Ontology Approach to evaluate technical and non-technical NHIN-EHR design choices
- Resolve Option 1 -- Option 2 language
- Mark and Adam create a 1 page "thesis" and use it to guide the group response
- Achieve sufficient Membership interest in completing this RFI phase and future opportunities
- To consider the alignment tasks between the three major sections in light of calendar realities
- 1. Focus on just the "ontology" used by the RFI writing team of Dr. Brailer (Agree)
- 2. Develop a "Strawman" of working definitions of the two central terms (NHIN and _EHR)
- 3. Expand, in parallel, the Enterprise Topics and the Regulatory Topics
- 4. Assess the internal alignments within each of the three topics
- 5. Integrate, as needed, alignment problems within and between the three topics
- 6. Reality Checks
- 7. Complete the resulting document and essential graphics ( 1-3 pages per question?)
- pull a response to the RFI together and submit that by the 2005.01.18 deadline.
The Team
- Active participants
- Bob Smith - co-convener, project manager
- Mark Musen - co-convener
- Brand Niemann - co-convener
- Peter P. Yim - co-convener
- Adam Pease
- Bo Newman
- Kurt Conrad
- SamsonTu
- Natasha Noy
- Nicolas Rouquette
- Paul Koch
- ChrisRichardson
- David Whitten
- Mark Roest
- EdwardCherlin
- Anthony Cheung
- Michael Hogarth
- Christopher Chute
- Nad Bhatti
- Pat Cassidy
-
- ...(add names of any missing team member here)...
- Observers
- Discussion Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/health-ont/
- posting to the discussion forum: mailto:health-ont@ontolog.cim3.net
- Shared-File Workspace: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/health-ont/NHIN-RFI/
- List of other NHIN-RFI Responses available on the Internet - see: NhinRfi/Responses
Resources
- link to NHIN-RFI (courtesy SusanTurnbull)
- link to NHIN-RFI-FAQ (courtesy BobSmith)
- the RFI Announcement page is at: http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/rfi.html
Conference Call, Meeting & Workshop
- ...(list and link to agenda & proceedings pages here)...
- Co-coveners' sync-up call - NhinRfi/ConferenceCall_2005_05_31
- Post response submission review during regular weekly ontolog ConferenceCall_2005_01_20
- Project work session with the regular weekly ontolog ConferenceCall_2005_01_13
- Project team conference call - NhinRfi/ConferenceCall_2005_01_11
- Project work session with the regular weekly ontolog ConferenceCall_2005_01_06
- Project team conference call - NhinRfi/ConferenceCall_2004_12_22
- Project Kick-off - http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2004_12_16#nid044
- Precursor to this effort - our joint SICoP-Ontolog ConferenceCall_2004_08_12