True "Open-edi" is far off in the future, and I think it is out of scope for this project. Completely re-architecting business processes for a future HIPAA will have to wait awhile. There's a possibility I have misused the term "Open-EDI" before, when I simply meant that the current HIPAA law - along with a little bit of additional technology implementing our recommendations - would provide the infrastructure for providers, payers, Clearinghouses, TPAs, employers and other healthcare players to exchange data without onerous preparation and "enrollment."
Today we must assume we'll be dealing with the old message-centric "legacy" HIPAA standard X12 and NCPDP transactions. Any discussion of their replacement by ebXML Business Processes, XML or Web Services is premature and unproductive. We have clearly outlined our near and far term goals for this project. It is not inconceivable that we will have a usable CPP electronic partner profile available before H-day; the CPP is nothing but an XML document which describes a partner's capabilities, EDI addresses and party identifiers, among other things. And it's not quixotic to believe we could even have a workable prototype of the Healthcare CPP Registry before H-day either - especially with the help of our friends from the US NIST. The standard transactions (which we almost have in the form of the HIPAA IGs), the CPP (near-term deliverable of this project) and the Registry (a little bit further out) are necessary and sufficient for eliminating many of the major friction points impeding the ubiquitous electronic exchange of healthcare administrative data. I believe that "full blown" Open-Edi currently has little to offer us, considering our relatively modest goals. But those "brave souls" who actually will attempt to read the Open-Edi Reference Model might want the newest draft now being balloted: ISO/IEC FCD 14662 Information technology - Open-Edi Reference Model 2nd Edition (2002-05-16), at the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 site via the pointer at http://www.novannet.com/wedi/32N0830T.PDF.url. If your browser doesn't support IE shortcuts, then manually access document 830 from http://www.jtc1sc32.org/. William J. Kammerer Novannet, LLC. Columbus, US-OH 43221-3859 +1 (614) 487-0320 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rachel Foerster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WEDi SNIP 4 (E-mail 3)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, 01 July, 2002 03:57 PM Subject: Open-edi, Health Care, ebXML and CPP/A It seems to me based on the discussions here over the past several weeks that a basic assumption can be made about the focus of this group's efforts. Generally, I would characterize that assumption as being that the focus here is on a future vision of how electronic information exchanges within health care can take place seamlessly and dynamically rather than as a rigid, pre-determined and pre-established exchange. If this is accurate, then it also means that the focus of our efforts is not going to be directed to the challenges and issues facing health care today as it continues its painful march towards HIPAA's requirements for standard electronic transactions. Assuming this is our strategic direction, it occurred to me that while we been talking about CPPA this and CPPA that, the CPP/A can better be understood in the context of the ebXML Framework and the earlier Open-edi work done under ISO. The vision I mentioned above is also set forth in the Open-edi Reference Model, an ISO document: IS14662. Here's the introductory paragraphs from ISO14662: "The economic advantages of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) are widely recognised. However, the cost of setting up an EDI relationship is still very high due to the need for a detailed bilateral business and technical agreement between the involved business partners. The initial high cost of establishing such an agreement does not justify short term partnerships. It has also been found that implementations involving the management of a large number of partners and their associated agreements are not productive. Consequently, most EDI implementations have been successful only: - in long term partnerships; - between a limited number of partners. Open-edi lowers these barriers by introducing standard business scenarios and the necessary services to support them. Once a business scenario is agreed upon, and the implementations conform to the Open-edi standards, there is no need for prior agreement among trading partners, other than the decision to engage in the Open-edi transaction in compliance with the business scenario. Since Open-edi takes a generic approach, it enables organisations to establish short term relationships quickly and cost effectively. Business scenarios and the necessary supporting services will be available to all who wish to use them, thus providing the necessary means for implementing Open-edi." For the brave souls here who would like to read this ISO document, it can be downloaded from my web site at http://www.rfa-edi.com/OO-edi.htm. This vision was also carried forward in the work of the ebXML Initiative. The CPP/A is a key component of the ebXML architecture, which enables just such a vision to be realized. Some ebXML FAQs and other information about the ebXML Initiative is also available at http://www.rfa-edi.com/ebxml_initiative.htm. Now, you might ask, why on earth am I posting all of this information here? Well....the latest electronic business buzz is "web services", the Internet, and XML. And quite frankly, I believe that some flavor of ebXML, Web Services, EDI, Open-edi, etc., is the future, not only globally, but for health care as well. My experience has been is that having a foundational knowledge base of the various technologies and where they (may) fit into a strategic vision is essential for successfully exploiting those technologies. Thus, I think it's important that we here have a view of CPP/A, not in isolation, but as part of a framework that can enable health care to achieve a new future and vision. A debate of ebXML versus Web Services has been under way on the ebXML Development list. Alan Kotok, who has also been directly involved in the ebXML Initiative and is a co-author of a book on ebXML (ebXML: The New Global Standard for Doing Business Over the Internet, ISBN 0-7357-1117-8), authored what I think is a nicely informative article describing how all of this fits together to form a more complete puzzle. A link to Alan's article is below. I think the article below contains a fine plain-language discussion of the connection and reasoning between Open-edi and ebXML. Jamie http://www.webservices.org/index.php/article/articleview/479/1/1/ My hope is that by becoming more knowledgeable on Open-edi, ebXML, etc., we here will be better armed with knowledge to carry forward the work of this group in developing requirements and identifying solutions that will achieve our vision of the future for health information exchanges. Rachel Foerster Principal Rachel Foerster & Associates, Ltd. Professionals in EDI & Electronic Commerce 39432 North Avenue Beach Park, IL 60099 Phone: 847-872-8070 Fax: 847-872-6860 http://www.rfa-edi.com discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited.
