Electronic Health Reporter

Health Level Seven International (HL7), the global authority for interoperability in healthcare information technology with members in 55 countries, is pleased to announce the launch of the HL7 Payer User Group. The user group will provide implementation support to the payer community who work with HL7 standards to better manage member care, to promote better medical outcomes and ensure an economically sustainable system by making healthcare more affordable.

The focus of the HL7 Payer User Group will be the following:

• Education and training of the payer community on how to implement HL7 standards
• Share lessons learned during implementations
• Provide feedback to HL7 work groups that are responsible for creation of the standards that impact the payer community
• Be a collaborative resource for other stakeholders at HL7 for payer perspectives

The HL7 Payer User Group is the second user group to be launched by HL7. HL7 introduced the user group initiative last year with the formation of the HL7 Immunization User Group in collaboration with the American Immunization Registry Association. “Over the past year, HL7 has become increasingly active within the payer community. These efforts have provided critical support through the introduction of the payer summit program, and now enabled the launch of the HL7 Payer User Group,” said Dr. Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO of HL7. “In an effort to provide services and resources to benefit our members implementing interoperability standards, the HL7 user group initiative reflects the critical growth of HL7. We believe that this program will drive highly valued collaboration and lead to more effective implementations of HL7 standards. We anticipate continued organic growth of user groups, with increasing demand from other stakeholder communities.”

The HL7 Payer User Group will be co-chaired by Durwin Day of Health Care Service Corporation and David Degandi of Cambia Health Solutions. Membership in the HL7 Payer User Group is free for HL7 voting members and costs $100 annually for others. To join this user group or for more information please visit: http://www.hl7.org/participate/UserGroups.cfm.

About Health Level Seven International (HL7)

Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven International is the global authority for healthcare information interoperability and standards with affiliates established in more than 30 countries. HL7 is a non-profit, ANSI accredited standards development organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. HL7’s more than 2,000 members represent approximately 500 corporate members, which include more than 90 percent of the information systems vendors serving healthcare. HL7 collaborates with other standards developers and provider, payer, philanthropic and government agencies at the highest levels to ensure the development of comprehensive and reliable standards and successful interoperability efforts.

For more information, please visit: www.HL7.org