At the HL7 working group meeting session this morning it was announced that HL7 will be exploring the possibility of giving away its standards to implementers.
I thoroughly support exploration of this possibility. Such action would enable wider implementation of HL7 Standards in the industry. That will serve to make products that support the standard much more valuable to those that create them. This is the kind of value that HL7 has been providing for years to its members already -- but this action could offer the entire HealthIT industry even more.
I can see several risks involved in considering this action. It certainly is scary from a business standpoint. I applaud HL7 in being willing to think about those risks. My hope is that industry support for it would serve to make HL7 an even stronger organization.
Tell me, please, what your thoughts are on this topic. I'd be interested in how this makes you feel about HL7 as an organization. Would it make you more likely to participate? Would you be willing to support HL7 more or less if this were to be implemented?
I think standards should be open and available. I hope they follow through with this!
ReplyDeleteI am very excited for this kind of news and hope that it catches on for more SDOs out there. Removing the price barrier of adoption is a great step forward to getting a standard adopted so that it becomes more useful to everyone.
ReplyDelete+1. Very much hope that this come through. The cumulative effect of imposing control over distribution strangles the eco-system in really pernicious ways.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that's been keeping our organization (an ISV with healthcare orientation) from investing more into building up HL7 expertise is the closedness of the standards. I hope very much that it will be open.
ReplyDeleteYes it should be free. How can a national standard of such importance not be free? But there are even greater issues then that to address. The Hl7 3.0 is way to complex and poorly formulated. Someone needs to start over and do this right. Given the poor decisions and judgements of the hl7 committee. I think some other standards body needs to do this.
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ReplyDeleteCDISC does and they seem to be doing fine. I always use their standards when it applies to a given customers needs. An open royalty free standard is going to promote adoption and work to the benefit of everyone.
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