Electronic Health Records

Mission

The goal of the HL7 Electronic Health Record (EHR) Work Group is to support the HL7 mission of developing standards for EHR data, information, functionality, and interoperability. The Work Group will contribute to HL7’s goal by creating and promoting appropriate and necessary standards, including:

• Support of Functional and Information Requirements for Electronic Health Records (EHR) and systems (EHRS);
• Support of Functional and Information Requirements for Personal Health Records (PHR) and systems (PHRS);
• Evolving a framework for the development of Functional Models (e.g. national domains) and Profiles (e.g. medical sub-specialty), including the development and use of tooling;
• Defining a high-level framework to support the interoperability requirements and life cycles with a focus on trustworthiness, reliability and records authenticity of EHR systems in coordination with other Work Groups;  
• Identification of existing and emerging information requirements and other HL7 artifacts; 
• Participation in development of FHIR resources which support the functional models; and
• Working with the international affiliates in the development of realm-specific Functional Profiles.

Charter

Work Products and Contributions to HL7 Processes

• Provide a forum for discussion about, and identification of, standards, information and definitions necessary to promote interoperability among Electronic Health Record and Personal Health Record systems. Different solutions will be examined and considered for advancement as standards within the EHR Work Group and/or within other HL7 Work Groups;
• Create and maintain an HL7-wide functional model architecture/framework;
• Create and update an internationally-focused set of models, profiles, and other artifacts related Electronic Health Record systems (e.g., the EHR-S FM);
• Create and update an internationally-focused set of models, profiles and other artifacts related to Personal Health Record systems (e.g., the PHR-S FM);
• Create and update conformance requirements for – and provide guidance in the development of – functional profiles (which are realm-, application- or care setting-specific constraints of the HL7 Functional Models.  This guidance may reference data archetypes, information requirements, use cases, and/or specific standards;
• Accept industry input on data and functional requirements for the interoperable exchange of electronic health records and exchange among electronic health record systems;
• Create and update artifacts (e.g., implementation guides), documents (e.g., comments to a policy advisory committee) and examples that clarify the interoperability, functionality, and data requirements among EHR, PHR, and other health information systems;
• Design and provide educational materials to inform participants of the standards and ongoing work of the EHR WG, thus enabling the creation of a knowledgeable workforce;
• Develop methods by which EHR WG work products are adopted and implemented in various realms.

The EHR Work Group recognizes that certain artifacts, such as messages and documents that fulfill specified functional requirements, may fall within the scope of other Work Groups. Therefore, the EHR Work Group will collaborate with other Work Groups to produce the appropriate standards.

 

 

Formal Relationships With Other HL7 Groups

The EHR Work Group will interact with other HL7 Work Groups to create and promote standards for EHR interoperability, functionality and data content including:

• Vocabulary Work Group – data content standards for EHRs
• Clinical Decision Support Work Group – EHR system functionality for clinical decision support
• Structured Documents Work Group – Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) for EHR, structure and content
• Orders and Observations Work Group – EHR content
• Security Work Group - privacy, security and confidentiality
• Patient Care Work Group – EHR content
• FHIR Management Group – EHR resources
• Pharmacy Work Group – EHR content and Functional Profile development
• Regulated Clinical Research Information Management – EHR content
• Clinical Interoperability Council – Clinical requirements and data content standards for EHR and PHR systems
• Public Health and Emergency Response (PHER) Work Group – public health, emergency and first responders
• Emergency Care Work Group – Functional Profile development
• Child Health Work Group – Functional Profile development 
• Mobile Health Work Group – Consumer Mobile Health Application Functional Framework development
• Community Based Clinical Care - Clinical requirements and data content standards for EHR and PHR systems
• Clinical Quality Information - Clinical requirements and data content standards for EHR and PHR systems and Functional Profile development

The EHR Work Group will interact with other Committees/Councils to promote use of the electronic health record standards, including:

• Marketing Council
• Education Committee
• International Council

Informal Relationships with Organizations Outside of HL7

The EHR Work Group maintains and fosters active relationships with organizations outside of HL7 as the work of these organizations complements or enhances the work of the EHR Work Group.  Current relationships include:

1. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – ISO TC 215 Healthcare Informatics
2. US Technical Advisory Group (US TAG) to the American Standards National Institute (ANSI)
3. Committee European de Normalization (CEN) TC 251 
4. The Office of National Coordinator (ONC)
5. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 
6. International Health Terminology Standards Organization (IHTSDO)  
7. Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC)
8. Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
9. Center for Disuse Control and Prevention (CDC)
10. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS)
11. American Dental Association (ADA)
12. Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
13. US Department of Defense (DoD)
14. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
15. National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP)

Work Group Governance

The EHR Work Group follows the HL7 Governance and Operations Manual.

HL7 Governance and Operations Manual  

2021 May Work Group Health Gold Star Award Winner

This Work Group earned a WG Healthiest Star rating in May 2021.

Date of Last Revision

May 11, 2016