Teleconference 2019-01-31

Motion to approve WGM January 2019 Minutes carried

Proposed SM; Second RMcC. For: 3 Abstain: 2 Against: 0

WK: The SNOMED International liaison (collaboration) agreement has expired; there is a request to the HTA to review this and see if there anything to add/change; a copy of the agreement is on the Vocabulary Portal. The term will be 5 years and there will be an appendix to describe joint projects. NB: Legal name of the organisation remains as IHTSDO; SNOMED International is the public facing name

• ACTION: @All HTA members to review the agreement and be ready for discussion at the next TC.

IPS Free Subset: there is some concern of the value of the Free Subset for the International Patient Summary; it will be important that any external communication is clear about the value (or otherwise) of this. Note that the HTA does not have any authority into projects that negotiate for SNOMED content directly; however all projects must go through WK to get content collections from S-I and the HTA can advise WK. The role of the HTA is to be the single point of contact for new concept requests.

Reference email to HTA List 2019-01-24 11.55 UTC from RB

DSM is a code system for mental health care; users of DSM are required to have a license to use the code system. SM: similar issue with the ASCP American Society of Cancer, CPT, MedDRA etc.

There is a sense within HL7 that if an organisation that receives a message with terminology content that it does not have a license for, the organisation should reject the communication; however this is not general policy a. However, HTA should have a policy as to how standards/implementation guides should manage use of external code systems: see below. Policy and strategy is within the HTA remit, policing the use of external code systems is not within the remit.

In the Netherlands, patients will have Personal Health Records. The responsibility for licensing for use of proprietary code systems in those PHRs rests with the PHR software vendors, not with individual citizens.

Reference email to HTA List 2019-01-25 20:19 UTC from RMcC; Steve Bass is keen for X-12 content to be used in HL7 standards

Suggestion from RMcC:

HL7 approach to external code systems that is “lore” at the moment but I intend to make policy via the HL7 Terminology Authority (HTA.) 

1. Where ever possible HL7 artifacts that reference coded content should reference externally managed established, curated codes made available as a versioned code system (or can be a subset of said code system) that is
1. Under the curation of an established organization that is committed to maintaining the code system content, I.E.: A Terminology Authority.
2. Is available at low or no cost.
3. Has straightforward licensing requirements
4. Follows good vocabulary practices as defined by HL7
5. Have definitions for each code
6. Has established processes for content improvement 
7. Is well established for use in the identified HL7 context
8. Provides easy access to the code system content
9. Either provide, or work with HL7 to establish an identifier for the code system
2. Any external code system chosen for use in an HL7 artifact should
1. Provide the current version, and will continue to provide updates to the code system so as to make it available for use by HL7 members for the sole purpose of:
1. Determining proper use of the code system and any value sets within published and draft HL7 artifacts
2. Maintaining the code system and value sets for use in published and draft HL7 artifacts
3. Provide a current human contact for the content and a link to a source for the content
2. Any publication or draft HL7 artifact that references an external code system must:
1. Clearly identify the external content as:
1. Governed by IP restrictions beyond those of HL7.
2. That any use of the content beyond review of the HL7 artifact for implementation requires the implementer adhere to the IP requirements of the owning organization.
2. Provide a web-link to the licensing information for the content and/or provide a short description of the requirements.

• ACTION: @All HTA members to review the above; wordsmith on Confluence as needed. We will vote on this at the next meeting so that it can be taken to the Standards Governance Board to become policy (and also on to the TSC).

General policy on the use of external code systems - approval and passing on to SGB

HL7 Terminology Portal - document any changes we wish to make

New S-I Collaboration Agreement - suggestions for change