Newsletter #9 - February 09, 2001

In this issue:

• Status Summary
• Balloting Process
• CIC Sunset Plan
• Meeting Summaries
  • Medica 2000 - Dusseldorf, November 23 2000
  • CIC-HL7 Joint Meeting - Orlando, January 8 2001
• Point-of-Care Coordinators' Workshop Results

Through the tremendous effort of the the CIC's technical teams over the past 11 months, the Consortium's connectivity proposals are nearly complete and ready for membership ballot. These teams have produced a three-part connectivity proposal, illustrated in the figure to the right.

The final review and ballot of these proposals will be completed by the beginning of May 2001. Once ratified, the CIC will 'sunset' and transfer the proposals to three chartered Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) for publication and future development. These SDOs (NCCLS, HL7, and IEEE) have committed to a timeline that will produce an 'Approval Level' connectivity standard for publication by July 2001. We will announce the availability of these standards at this year's American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) meeting in Chicago.

The remainder of this newsletter contains additional information on the CIC Balloting Process, Sunset Plan and recent meetings.

The first step of the CIC balloting process asks the CIC membership to perform a thorough technical review of each major proposal element (Device Interface Lower-Layer, Device Interface Upper-Layer, EDI Interface). This Request for Comment (RFC) phase gathers all substantive modification requests prior to the start of the formal balloting process.

Once the CIC's technical teams have refined the three proposals based on the RFC feedback, the CIC's Technical Coordinating Committee will combine these proposals into a single document.

This single document will then be sent to the Provider Review Committee (PRC) for ballot. If the PRC affirms that the CIC proposal addresses their connectivity needs, the document will be sent to the entire CIC Membership for final ballot. Once the proposal passes this final ballot stage, it will become a CIC-ratified standard. Elements of the proposal will then be transferred to the various Sunset-partner SDOs for their ratification and publication.

As the CIC's technical proposals approach ballot-ready status, we welcome review, input and feedback from the general point-of-care community. To review the most recent draft versions of the technical proposals, visit the CIC website (http://www.poccic.org/). Please direct any questions or comments to Jeff Perry, CIC Vice-President, Chief Technical Officer.

As planned, the CIC will transfer the Consortium's work product to several chartered SDOs for publication and future development. The Consortium has chosen three organizations to receive the CIC proposals: NCCLS, HL7, and IEEE. Over the next few months, committees and workgroups within these bodies will receive the CIC proposals and prepare these documents for public availability early in July, 2001.

The NCCLS Point-of-Care Subcommittee will have primary publication responsibility for the entire set of point-of-care connectivity standards. In addition, HL7 and IEEE committees will have development responsibility for significant sections of the CIC proposals. The HL7 Laboratory, Automated and Point-of-Care Special Interest Group (LAPOCTSIG) will have principle responsibility for section of the CIC's proposal governing communication between point-of-care Data Managers and Laboratory Information Systems. Likewise, the IEEE 1073.3 subcommittee will assume responsibility for the lower-layer point-of-care device interface protocols.

After the Consortium's sunset, members of the CIC's technical teams will transfer to these three organizations to continue development and extension of these baseline connectivity standards. For more information on how to become involved with these organizations after the CIC's sunset, please contact Horst Merkle, CIC Vice-President.

• Joint CIC-HL7 Meeting, Orlando, January 8, 2001

  The CIC held its fourth major technical meeting in conjunction with the HL7 Winter Working Group meetings in Orlando, Florida, on January 8 2001. CIC members joined the HL7 Laboratory, Automated and Point-of-Care Testing Special Interest Group (LAPOCTSIG) to:

  • Prepare the EDI and Device Lower-Layer proposals for ballot
  • Continue work on the Device Upper-Layer proposal
  • Review the CIC's sunset plan

  All of the meeting's objectives were met. In addition, the CIC participants established a strong and effective working relationship with the LAPOCTSIG members, enabling quick harmonization of the CIC EDI proposal with the existing HL7 standards.

  You may view a detailed summary of this meeting on the CIC website.

• MEDICA 2000, November 23, 2000

  Roche Diagnostics hosted the CIC's second briefing for the international point-of-care community in conjunction with the MEDICA 2000 conference in Dusseldorf, Germany.

  Sixty-eight attendees from throughout Europe joined this meeting to review both the state of point-of-care connectivity in Europe as well as the status of the CIC's connectivity standardization efforts.

  The participants made several suggestions regarding how to stimulate the demand for and adoption of connectivity standards in Europe. The CIC will formulate plans early in 2001 to address these recommendations.

  You may view a detailed summary of this meeting on the CIC website.

On September 9, 2000, the CIC invited five POC Coordinators from leading healthcare institutions to participate in a workshop designed to help the CIC better address the needs of the point-of-care user community. The participants shared the status of their current POC testing programs, the obstacles they face to efficient POC test management, and their vision for POC testing over the next 5-10 years. The meeting participants also composed a set of actions to ensure further contribution by POC Coordinators to the CIC's standardization efforts.

All participants were very eager to continue to contribute to the CIC's efforts toward POC connectivity standardization. A number of avenues for ongoing participation were identified, and are being addressed by the CIC organization.

You may view a detailed summary of this meeting on the CIC website.

Best regards,

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