Newsletter #5 - March 3, 2000

In this issue:

• Successful CIC Launch Meeting Held Feb. 22 in Tucson, AZ
• CIC Vision Statement
• CIC Guiding Work Principles
• Organization Instantiated
• CIC 12 Month Timeline Established
• Recruitment of Phase Zero Work Team Participation

Over 50 representatives from 22 of the leading diagnostic organizations attended the CIC’s first technical meeting in Tucson, Arizona to officially launch the Connectivity Industry Consortium (CIC) for POC device connectivity. Hosted by Sunquest Information Systems, this one day, meeting was comprised of general sessions to introduce the CIC management team and Vision and four working breakout sessions for the Phase 0 work teams.

During the technical sessions, the four Phase 0 work teams (Timeline, Scope, Requirements, and Architecture) each developed draft technical timelines and project plans. Under the direction of Jeff Perry, the CIC Chief Technical Officer, the four timelines were then integrated, presented and approved by the Plenum before closing the meeting. Although the four Phase 0 teams will continue to have responsibilities throughout the next 12 months, the majority of the years work will be completed by the Device Interface, EDI Interface, Information Model and QA/QC Reporting sub-committees.

With respect to the CIC's organization, Suzanne Cross, the CIC President, reviewed the newly installed organizational structure including the Board of Directors, Officers, Provider Review Committee, Technical Coordinating Committee and Technical Sub-Committees and their concomitant roles and responsibilities. She also reported that the CIC was organizationally ready to launch as it had secured an appropriate amount of initial funds, had the required infrastructure of well qualified Officers, Board and Provider Review Members to manage the process and had sufficient numbers of highly experienced technical staff - and the energy and momentum - to accomplish the CIC Vision.   Refer to the CIC web site to view organization charts, a full copy of the Presidents message to the Plenum and minutes from this launch meeting.

The CIC Board of Directors created the following vision statement to guide CIC work teams.  The vision was presented to the CIC Plenum at the February 22nd Launch meeting:

The vision of the CIC is to expeditiously develop, pilot, and transfer the foundation for a set of seamless 'plug and play' POC communication standards ensuring fulfillment of the critical user requirements of bi-directionality, device connection commonality, commercial software interoperability, security, and QC / regulatory compliance.

The deliverable from this vision will be a set of standards that become the foundation for POC Connectivity across the healthcare continuum. To meet this vision, the resulting standards must be self-sustaining, utilize practical, cost-effective, user-focussed solutions and be transferable to an established industry standards organization within the CIC's 12-15 month timeframe. The desired outcome of this vision is broad-based vendor and provider adoption of the CIC standards. Please refer to the CIC web site to view a full copy of the President's presentation to the Plenum.

During the CIC Launch Meeting on Feb. 22, CIC, the Plenum unanimously voted to adopt the following Guiding Principles while developing the new standards:

• CIC members will uphold the highest levels of ethical conduct at all times.
• Information gained as a member of the CIC will not be commercially exploited to the disadvantage or to the advantage of any member.
• There will be no exchange of sensitive, market based information between members. (e.g. pricing, market share, positioning)
• CIC members will strive for equitable, balanced solutions to produce a set of standards that will provide for open competition and will not selectively benefit or harm any members or non-members.
• Members will work to protect individual company Intellectual Property (IP) by guarding against sharing proprietary information, which, if incorporated, becomes CIC or public property.  Any IP incorporated must be declared and assurances of licenses given per Bylaws.
• Fair cooperation and trust is the responsibility of all members.
• Any breaches of these principles will be expeditiously addressed by the Board of Directors

Please refer to the CIC web site to view a full copy of the President's presentation to the Plenum.

All Board of Directors and Officers are installed and have pledged their personal commitment to the success of the CIC Mission and Vision. Please refer to the CIC web site to view organizational charts and Mission and Vision statements.

As stated in the CIC Plan document, the Consortium will have a one-year lifespan, at the end of which the standards developed will be transferred to chartered standards bodies. The following figure outlines the Consortium's phases, milestones, and major conference presentations.

The 'Phase 0' effort is comprised of four working groups:

• Scope
• Requirements
• Architecture
• Timeline and Plan

After Phase 0, four technical groups will be constituted to design and develop the CIC's interface solutions:

• Device Interface
• EDI Interface
• QA/QC Reporting
• Information Model

We invite all member organizations to participate in the Phase 0 workgroups.To join one of these groups, individuals from CIC member organizations should contact Chris Fetters, the CIC's Vice President-Secretary. Please inform Chris of the following information:

• Preferred Name
• Organization Name
• Workgroup Interest
• E-mail Address
• Phone Number
• Mailing Address

Best regards,

Jeff Perry
CIC Vice-President, Chief Technical Officer
Representing: Agilent Technologies