Profiles Validation Process
The FHIR IL community is committed to creating clear, transparent, and shareable core profiles (IL CORE). This process aims to establish a standard that meets the needs of community organizations and is easily implementable by them.
Stages of Process
Phase A - developing the profiles Draft by the IL CORE team.
Profiles, at this point, will be classified: Draft (0)
Developing the profiles Draft, by the IL CORE team, in accordance with the annual work plan.
The Profiles Draft (the intermediate products) are published on Simplifier.
The meetings are recorded and published on the community’s website.
Members of the community can raise questions and notes, any time, in the community’s forum.
The IL CORE team informs that the work is done and the profile is ready for the community’s notes (The forum discussion is closed).
The IL CORE team of the FHIR IL community is responsible for creating the core of the IL FHIR standard - Adjusting the resources of the international FHIR standard to Israel.
The FHIR standard consists of 3 basic components that are called “Resources”, which define the data structure, the relations between the elements and the identifiers. A “profile” is a resource or a set of resources that were adjusted for a specific requirement. Part of the team’s work is testing the coding systems that will be defined for each profile, while preferring to use international coding systems (e.g. SNOMED CT or LOINC).
The team includes the professional core team in addition to representatives from within organizations of the community: IT experts from main Healthcare organizations (HMO’s and hospitals), FHIR leaders in organizations; representatives and business experts from the Healthcare system.
The profiles drafts which are developed by the team, are constantly published on Simplifier platform and community members can raise questions and notes about the drafts specifically and broadly, the Core activity at any time, in the community’s forum.
The IL CORE work progress and its products, in their different phases, can be tracked on the FHIR IL website.
The team convenes once a week or every 2 weeks, under a predefined agenda, in order to validate the recommendations for profiles and the terminology which were chosen to represent the Healthcare organizations on the characterization process. At time of need and in accordance with the agenda, clinical experts of the organizations are joining for professional discussions on relevant issues.
The timeline for the open meetings and their recordings are published in the ISRAEL CORE page on the community’s website.
Those who are interested in joining the ongoing meetings are invited to contact the team’s coordinator.
The IL CORE objectives
Localization of the FHIR standard:
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defining the core profiles
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recommending a standart, nationally consensual and shared with the community terminology
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leading the Israeli standard while constantly and openly maintaining a dialogue with the community.
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handling the information entities according to the community’s prioritization and developing a standard profile.
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maintaining a continuous contact with communities around the world in order to learn from similar initiatives of standard localization
Promoting the implementation of FHIR IL standard in the Israeli HealthCare system:
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a source of knowledge and excellence
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sharing the community with the latest updates from the world, regarding standard characterization.
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advising projects or members of the community on FHIR initiatives
Phase B - Publishing the profiles Draft for community notes and remarks
Profiles, at this point, will be classified as: Draft in Review (1)
Publishing the profile for the community’s notes
Publishing the profile in the profile’s page on the community’s website and informing the community members that the profile is now open for their notes.
The community members are invited to ask and give comments on the profile, in the profile’s page, and the IL CORE team will reply during this phase of the process, which will last at least two weeks.
Kicking off the process - Publishing a profile’s page for notes
When the IL CORE team decides that the profile is ready for the community’s notes, it’s being published in the category: “Profiles in approval process”, in the ISRAEL CORE page on the community’s website.
The team will publish a page for each profile, with all necessary details for the community members to learn and discuss the profile:
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Introduction - an explanation of the profile, objective and business process, current status of the Ecosystem (what is relevant), links to Simplifier (which include the detailed structure of the profile) and to HL7.
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Gap analysis - the difference and the transition between the suggested IL CORE profile and the Base Resource and US CORE or other countries on which it leans (e.g. UK).
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Terminology - alternatives, considerations for choosing a recommended terminology, the meaning of those alternatives and the choice in those coding systems for the profile.
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Issues and considerations during the process - describing the alternatives (as much as it exists), analyzing discussed issues, considerations that was brought to discussion, decisions that were made as for the profile and all that implies (e.g. data elements, terminology, etc.)
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Meetings’ recordings and summaries - attaching recordings and summaries of IL CORE team and the community.
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Special decisions / open issues for discussion - if there are any
In the profile’s page, in any category, community members can ask questions and comment.
Gathering community members’ notes
The community Director will inform the community members about the profiles that are now up for discussion and the timeline for community members’ notes.
Community's notes will be written as comments in the profile’s page.
During the community’s notes phase, the IL CORE team will follow and comment on the notes in the page. The team will be able to edit the information that was published in the profiles pages, but will not make any changes to the formal products that are being monitored, until this phase is done.
The Community's notes phase will last at least 15 days before the discussion of the leading team.
Discussion within the leading team
The Community’s leading team convenes for discussing the profile, while referring to the community's notes. During the discussion, the leading team representatives address the IL CORE representatives with questions about the profile.
At the end of the discussion, the leading team gives the IL CORE team a document with the discussion’s conclusions and recommendations for corrections or adaptations in the profile.
The leading team
The leading team represents the core of the community and includes clinicians and senior representatives of IT systems from the HealthCere organizations accompanied by major software providers and industry agents.
The team convenes once every 2 or 3 months, according to the profiles ready for review.
Members of the leading team will get trainings during their term.
The leading team’s objectives
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Reviewing and referring to the Israeli standard draft.
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Representing the organizations in the community’s dialogue and in the standard development -reflecting the needs, challenges and insights.
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Discussing and recommending the standard products
The team’s work
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The team will meet once a quarter (or at any other time if needed) to discuss the profiles drafts. Sometimes, a follow up meeting is needed, which will take place physically or online, as needed.
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The team members will participate in community’s meetings and in the community’s forum.
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Trainings - the leading team members will get trainings needed for discussing the profiles drafts and promoting FHIR activity in the organizations.
The leading team’s convening for discussing the profiles
Each quarter, the team’s activity will be led by a team’s member.
At the beginning of the community's notes phase and at least 2 weeks before convening the leading team, the community’s director will inform the leading team about the date of the meeting and the profiles up for discussion.
Up to this date, the leading team members will learn the profiles’ pages and the community’s notes, and would be able to consult the organizations’ members or directors, as needed
The team will discuss the profiles and the community’s notes as they appear in the profile’s page.
The method of work in the meeting (plenum or groups) will be decided according to the number of profiles and the level of their complexity,
The IL CORE team representatives will be available for questions of the leading team during the meeting
The conclusions and recommendations of the team will be documented by the discussions’ leader for this quarter and will include reference to the issues and questions that were brought up by the community.
The leading team will give the IL CORE team a concluding document of the conclusions and recommendations (if needed) for correction and adaptation.
As far as further leading team discussion is needed, it will be set within 10 days in which the leading team and the IL CORE team will check with relevant professionals in the different organizations, all issues need to be clarified
At the end of the leading team’s work process, the concluding document of the team’s notes will be added to the profiles’ page.
Community Concluding Discussion
The IL CORE team is making corrections into the profile according to the recommendations given, while documenting all notes accepted with their decision, and all changes made into the profile.
The updated profile will be published at least 2 weeks prior to the community concluding discussion, during which the community members will be able to comment on the profile’s page.
An open community meeting, in which the IL CORE team and the leading team will present the profiles that have passed the notes phase.
As new significant issues will be raised, the IL CORE team will strive to correct and update the profile, shortly before the meeting.
Publishing the corrected profile
At the end of the community and leading team notes phase. The IL CORE team will document all notes that were accepted and will correct the profile accordingly.
The IL CORE team will publish all changes that were made into the profile and the discussion with the decision made about the notes that were not accepted, in addition to updating the profile in Simplifier
Discussion in the open community meeting
At least 2 weeks after publication of the updated profiles’ pages by the IL CORE team, an open community meeting will be held, in which profiles that have passed the community and leading team’s notes, will be presented.
The meeting will be conducted as an open discussion, in which community members will be able to raise questions and other issues
As new significant issues that require changes to the profile will be raised, the IL CORE team will strive to correct them within 10 business days.
The meeting will be recorded and published in the profile’s page.
Phase C - Finishing the notes and remarks
profiles, at this point, will be classified as: Trial Use (2)
After finishing the community’s notes phase, the corrected profile will be considered as ready for implementation on a Trial Use level of confirmation.
After finishing the community’s notes phase, the corrected profile will be considered as ready for implementation on a Trial Use level of confirmation.
HealthCare organizations and other companies which implement core profiles, are invited to raise their lessons and suggestions for changing the profile based on the implementation process, by approaching the IL CORE team.
The IL CORE team will review these notes and will publish offered corrections to the profile on the community’s website.
