Implementation Guide for NCCN Guideline Export

(WORK IN PROGRESS. DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS)

The NCCN Guideline Export APIs can be used to retrieve a digital version of the a NCCN guideline (https://www.nccn.org/guidelines). The APIs are protected with a username and password.

The API generates FHIR compatible output using the NCCN Guideline Export Profile (https://simplifier.net/LogicNets/NCCNGuidelineExportProfile) which is based on the FHIR Questionnaire format.

The exported NCCN guideline can be rendered with standard FHIR Questionnaire rendering tools such as LHCFORMS (https://lhcforms.nlm.nih.gov/lhcforms).

The end-point documentation of the NCCN Guideline Export APIs are available at https://nccndev.logicnets.net/nccn/NCCNAPIDoc

Export format

The NCCN guidelines have been modeled in the LogicNets Visual Designer application. Each guideline has been described as pathways consisting of basic elements such as activities, groups, data collection, criteria and links. These elements have been extended to contain meta data attributes such as activity types, or additional references to link to citations, order-templates (https://simplifier.net/NCCNChemotherapyOrde) and other NCCN APIs (https://www.nccn.org/webservices/products/help).

Every element described in a NCCN guideline is exported as a FHIR Questionnaire Item. Items can be nested, for example a workup element contains activities (e.g. "Obtain life expectency") which contains nested items with the data collection elements ("Enter life expectency"). Criteria elements in pathways are exported as hidden items with sdc-questionnaire-calculatedExpression-extension (http://hl7.org/fhir/uv/sdc/StructureDefinition/sdc-questionnaire-calculatedExpression) containing FHIR Path expressions (see https://www.hl7.org/fhir/fhirpath.html). The data collection elements will provide the inputs to these expressions and the result of these expressions are used to conditionally enable/disable other items in the Questionnaire. More detailed information about the export format can be found here https://simplifier.net/LogicNets.

About NCCN

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) is a not-for-profit alliance of 31 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. By defining and advancing high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers around the world.