WELCOME and THANK YOU
Welcome to the first ballot the Vital Records Death Reporting FHIR Implementation Guide (VRDR FHIR IG). We thank you for participating in the ballot process. We know that your time is limited and valuable. We appreciate your decision to allocate time to consider this specification. We are seeking to establish this version of the VRDR FHIR IG as a Standard for Trial Use (STU). Your voice matters! We've done our part and now it is up to you. We've completed requirements gathering and analysis, developed and tested a solution design, and prepared this specification for your review and approval.
A ballot is Health Level Seven parlance for public review, comment, and approval. According to the rules established by ANSI governing the standards development process, anyone that is materially affected by a proposed standard must be afforded the opportunity to make their needs known to the standards development organization (SDO), provide a critical assessment of the proposed specification, and voice their position in favor or against approval of the specification as a standard. This is that opportunity.
As you review this proposed standard for trial use we ask that you consider the following seven C's:
Clarity is the specification clear regarding the process flows, stakeholders, and information needs being addressed?
Conformance does the specification make use of the underly FHIR standard in accordance with established conformance rules?
Correctness does the specification make use of the proper FHIR resources and terminology bindings required to represent the underlying information needs?
Completeness is the specification implementable? Have all of the design elements necessary for an implementer to use the standard been specified?
Consistency is the specification internally consistent? Are there any contradictions within the specification regarding resource element use, cardinality, or semantics?
Conciseness does the specification make use of the appropriate balance of completeness and brevity? Does it contain all that is needed and nothing more?
Credibility does the specification include a record of its provenance from requirements gathering through specification design and testing?
The Ballot Process
Join the consensus group The first step in the ballot process is to join the ballot pool, also known as the consensus group, by visiting the HL7 Balloting Desktop - URL: http://www.HL7.org/ctl.cfm?action=ballots.home between February 25 to March 28, 2019.
Review the ballot material The next step is to review the specification and make note of any defects, deficiencies, or areas in need of improvement or correction. It is also permissible to make note of any aspects of the specification you felt were particularly well-formed. A ballot comment spreadsheet, downloadable from the balloting desktop should be used for this purpose.
Cast your vote Return to the HL7 Ballot Desktop to register your vote. Your options are Affirmative, Negative, and Abstain. A negative vote must be accompanied by one or more comments expressing the rationale for the negative vote. You can author your comment on the ballot desktop itself and optionally attached the ballot comment spreadsheet you used to capture your comments during the review. The voting period for this ballot cycle is March 29 to April 29, 2019.
Participate in Ballot Comment Reconciliation Once the voting period comes to an end all of the votes and their associated comments will be made available to the HL7 Public Health Workgroup for reconciliation. The workgroup will review all comments and disposition each comment as Persuasive, Non-Persuasive, Considered, or Not Related. Ballot comment submitters are encouraged to attend the ballot reconciliation process to provide amplify or clarify their comments, respond to questions, and participate in the disposition decision-making process.
Review Ballot Reconciliation Outcomes Once the workgroup has completed reconciliation of all comments made in the ballot, a reconciliation package is prepared including the reconciliation outcome. The reconciliation package is posted to the HL7 Balloting Desktop and all members of the ballot consensus group are notified of its posting. At this time members of the ballot consensus group that voted, negative are asked to review the proposed reconciliation and to withdraw their negative vote if they find the reconciliation proposal acceptable.
Trial Use
If at the end of the ballot process the number of affirmative votes represents 60% of the votes cast then this specification will have been approved as a standard for trial use. We are planning on a two year trial period. State Vital Record departments in California, Florida, New Hampshire, New York, Georgia, and Michigan have volunteered to be early adopters of the standard and to pilot its use during the trial period. Each pilot will involve the NCHS, one or more Jurisdictional Public Health Agencies, and local Vital Records Death Reporting originating data sources.
The purpose of the pilot projects is to validate the completeness and efficacy of the VRDR STU FHIR IG. The VRDR STU FHIR IG will be updated in response to defects or deficiencies identified while executing pilot implementation projects. New data requirements stemming from harmonization of VR Death Reporting Jurisdictional data requirements will also trigger updates to the IG.
Upon completion of the trial use period, the VRDR STU FHIR IG will have been upgraded to use the most recent normative release of FHIR resources and profiles. It will be realigned with the most recent published version of the Vital Records Domain Analysis Model and balloted as a normative specification circa 2022.