This is a living list of HL7-focused tasked that are directly related to the use, creation, governance, integration, and publication of terminology artifacts. While under construction, this list is intended to be a free-form collecting point of information that impacts terminology. All are encouraged to add items to this list as it will be subsequently curated and structured once a initial list is created.




  1. Changes to existing Terminology used in HL7

    1. Authoring - Methodology

      1. Descriptive changes
      2. Substantive changes

    2. Approving content - Management/methodology

      1. Code systems
      2. Naming systems
      3. Value sets

    3. Implementing - Methodology

      1. Quality steps: Management

    4. Tooling - Management

      1. Requires methodology input
      2. The numerous tasks (HSCR Jira Project, component "UTG"; over 100 and rising) on the to-do list must be prioritized, and newly added tasks must be slotted into their appropriate priority/urgency relative to the other outstanding tasks

    5. Process changes/enhancements - Primarily management, with methodology input/guidance from governance

      1. Currently automated steps
      2. Future automated steps
      3. Manual steps

  2. Publication of Terminology used in HL7

    1. THO Releases

      1. When can a release occur?
        1. Management group establishes a standard release cycle
        2. Exceptions would be raised to the TSC
      2. What triggers a release?
        1. Associated with ballot needs
      3. Process for QA of a release
        1. What is needed beyond what is included in the current checklist?
        2. Methodology groups identify quality criteria - could be joint activity between Vocab, MnM, Structured Docs, and InM
        3. Management groups ensure criteria are followed
      4. Errata of any kind?
        1. Requests for errata go through CTO
      5. Notifications
      6. Application functionality support for publication (does this mean THO features to support IG publication?)
        1. Prioritization of enhancements
        2. Evaluation of need for visualization of existing extensions
        3. Requirements

    2. Product Family Sequestered content

    3. Non-HL7 content copies

    4. Approving THO publication - Management
      1. Layout
      2. Accessibility
      3. Communication
      4. Schedule
      5. Education
  • Terminology standards development functions
    • Developing HL7 standards for terminology / vocabulary (including core primary standards and implementation guides). For example:
      • Development and curatorship of the FHIR ValueSet, ConceptMap, CodeSystem and NamingSystem resources in the core FHIR specification.
      • Development and curatorship the FHIR Terminology Service content in the FHIR specification includes FHIR operations like Value Set Expansion.
      • Development and maintenance of HL7 terminology content artefacts e.g. value sets, code systems, maps and naming systems.
    • Providing terminology advice to work groups, projects and HL7 HQ.
    • Participating in cross-SDO standards development projects e.g. SNOMED-on-FHIR and TermInfo with SNOMED International
  • Terminology authority functions
    • All the existing tasks and responsibilities of the HL7 Terminology Authority (HTA)
    • Setting policies for use of terminology across HL7. For example:
      • Policies for HL7 code system canonical URIs
      • Policies to govern the Unified Terminology Governance (UTG)
      • Policies for versioning, deprecating and retiring HL7 terminology content artefacts.
    • Enforcing policies for use of terminology in HL7. For example:
      • Identification of terminology policy violations.
      • Addressing policy violations through available means.
  • Terminology service functions
    • Publication of HL7 terminology content artefacts to stakeholders in line with published policies.
    • Effective operation of THO web site.
    • Effective operation of the UTG Jira web site.
    • In time, operation of a FHIR-based HL7 Terminology Server.
    • Development and provision of tooling to assist HL7 stakeholders.
    • Facilitating use of HL7 terminology in other tools e.g. terminology quality assurance in the FHIR IG Publisher.
    • Continual evolution and service improvement activities.
    • Vocab needs to clarify how to adopt value set changes for each binding strength and maturity level and then FHIR-M and FHIR-I need to get on board.
    • There should be clear expectations on conformant functionality of TS to support desired alignment with defined expectations.


HTA Current Tasks and Responsibilities

Assisting the HL7 community in obtaining the metadata - and particularly the URLs - for any and all external code systems.  Currently we have metadata 60+ code systems used by the HL7 community.  We maintain ~15 data elements for these and spend significant effort in validating - and often disambiguating - the information.  We liaise with the code system owners and encourage them to validate the metadata - and as such do quite a lot of "HL7 outreach" 

Interacting with the OID registry - trying to sort through issues with multiple OIDs that have been assigned to code systems; this remains an issue because CDA relies on use of OIDs





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