STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (SDO) CONSULTING

We represent VHA at international Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) and Standards Related Organizations (SROs) like HL7 and SNOMED International. To achieve this, our team engages with these organizations to influence clinical data standards and report on key workgroup activities. For example, Health Level 7 (HL7) develops global messaging standards for clinical data exchange between healthcare systems. As a leading SDO, HL7 shapes how systems structure, interpret, and share clinical data across platforms. VHA must stay aligned with evolving standards to reduce compliance risk and support its interoperability goals. To support this, we participate in HL7 standards development and help guide software developers toward consistent implementations. Specifically, HL7 structures its work through specialized workgroups, each focused on particular clinical interoperability objectives. Therefore, we contribute to several of these workgroups to ensure VA interests are represented and integrated into emerging standards.

We are active with the following workgroups:

• HL7 Patient Care Work Group to support clinical interoperability and standardization of health data. First, our team analyzes relevant FHIR resources aligned with this group’s mission to improve patient care documentation and exchange. Then, we examine allergy data standards, clinical care plans, and related social determinants of health (SDOH) data elements. In addition, we provide input on other emerging areas relevant to patient care and data exchange consistency.

• HL7 Vocabulary WG to support unified terminology governance across health IT systems. This group is creating a standards repository for FHIR and related code systems within the HL7 Terminology Authority. Notably, ongoing support is essential to maintain and evolve this centralized terminology infrastructure. We coordinate with key VA stakeholders and external partners, including DoD, FEHRM, Cerner, HealthShare, and terminology SDOs. Together, we ensure consistent, standards-based terminology to improve interoperability across the healthcare enterprise.

• HL7 FHIR WG for influencing the design of FHIR resources in a way compatible with the needs of our client’s business requirements and use cases

• HL7 Pharmacy WG to support standardized medication lists and usage data across systems. This group develops FHIR resources for pharmacy-specific elements like medication status and patient compliance. Moreover, we coordinate with ONC’s USCDI to propose data elements needed for VA-specific clinical and operational use cases. As a result, our goal is to ensure that pharmacy data standards reflect real-world needs and support accurate, interoperable medication management.