The Connectathon: IHE’s Conformance Testing Process

1. The Connectathon:IHE’s Conformance Testing Process Presented by: Mike Nusbaum & Mike Glickman IHE Connectathon & Interoperability Showcase Planning Committees January 16th, 2007

2. “Connectathon 101”

3. Objective and Agenda • What is the Connectathon? • To provide a high-level understanding of the Connectathon processes, and their value within the context of IHE • To describe what is currently happening on the Connectathon floor • To prepare you for a tour of the Connectathon floor, immediately following this presentation…

4. A Phenomenon…

5. Did you know… • The first Connectathon • held in 1999 in Chicago • 23 vendors, 47 applications tested, 1 Integration Profile • The 2007 North American Connectathon boasts: • 77 vendors registered (up from 55 in 2006) • Over 150 individual applications being tested • Over 350 engineers working collaboratively to test interoperability • 52 integration profiles are being tested, many of which are new in 2007 • 1000’s of vendor-vendor connections; 10,000’s of transactions • Represents many 1000’s of hours of effort by sponsors, vendors, staff • 51 Vendors applied to promote their success at the 2007 Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS

6. Proven Standards Adoption Process Testing at Connectathons IHE Demonstrations Develop technical specifications Products with IHE Identify available standards (e.g. HL7, DICOM, IETF, OASIS) Document Use Case Requirements Easy to integrate products Timely access to information

7. Scenes from Connectathon 2006

8. Encouraging Vendors toImplement IHE Profiles • Connectathon participation is open to all “software developers”, vendors, open source, providers • Interoperability Specifications (IHE Profiles) are set before users issue call for participation with deadline (applicants have to bid) • Vendors that implement IHE profiles assume strategic and marketing advantages • Vendors who pass the IHE Connectathon are given the opportunity to demonstrate IHE capabilities during major conferences (HIMSS, ACC, RSNA, etc.) • Many “carrots”, but only one stick: If you don’t play, you can’t pass!!

9. IHE Testing Process Users Testing Results Deploy Systems Testing Tools Sponsors:Project Management Team Develop Testing Tools Approves Test Logs Connectathon Product +IntegrationStatement Implement Profile Actors In-House Testing Vendors Sponsors: Exhibits Demonstration IHE Technical Framework (IHE Profile Specifications)

10. What is a Connectathon? Cross-vendor, live, supervised, structured tests • All participating vendors’ products tested together in the same place/time • Experts from each vendor available for immediate problem resolution… fixes are done in minutes, not months!! • Each vendor tests with multiple trading partners (actual product to actual product) • Testing of real-world clinical scenarios using IHE Integration Profiles

11. Connectathon Testing is based on specifications laid out in the Technical Framework Technical Framework Part 1: Integration Profiles model the business process problem (use case) and its solution. Part 2: Transactions define in how current standards are used to solve the business problem defined in the IntegrationProfiles. Connectathon: Vendors register to test their product as an actor(s) within an Integration Profile

12. Connectathon: Managed Process • Structured testing supervised by Technical Project Management team (34 PM’s and Monitors) • Real-time “dashboard” indicating tests in progress • Successful results recorded and available using automated tools • Successful results published by sponsors • National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) • Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University • Northwestern University Medical School • University of Maryland Health System • University Health Network (Canada) • Carilion Health System • HITSP • Montefiore Medical Center • IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) • OFFIS (Oldenburger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsinstitut für • Informatik-Werkzeuge und -Systeme, University of Mainz, Germany) • McGill University • University of Quebec • Partners Helathcare • National Institute for Research on Informatics and Automatism INRIA • SSHA (Smart Systems for Health Agency) • Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic • Industry Consultants

13. “Real-Time” Connectathon Results • Tool contains Connectathon results from 2001 to present • Part of the “KUDU” project management tool, developed in part by IHE Europe • Development underway to build a new PRODUCT REGISTRY, containing specific vendors’ product implementations of IHE Integration Profiles

14. Connectathons are GLOBAL and occur throughout the year • IHE North America • January 2006 • IHE Asia • February 2006 • IHE Europe • April 2006 • IHE North America • October 2006 • IHE North America (USA and Canada) • January 2007 • IHE Asia • February 2007 • IHE Europe • April 2007 • …..

15. MESA Testing Tools “Medical Environment Simulators and Analyzers” • Software and documentation distributed to vendors participating in the testing process • Each test performs functional testing of a single actor, in a specific profile, by simulating remaining actors • MESA tests must be successfully completed before the Connectathon

16. MESA Testing Tools • Primary developer: MIR, University of Washington • Other contributors: • NIST, US Dept of Commerce: XDS tools • OFFIS, Germany: DICOM Scope • Canada Health Infoway, Canada: XDS-I, PIX/PDQ/HL7v3 • INRIA, France: Lab HL7v2.5 • To be replaced by GAZELLE: a new testing tool architected to facilitate distributed testing

17. Gazelle Project • Joint project of IHE North America, IHE Europe and IHE Japan • Additional partners invited to take part • Steering Committee populated by sponsoring organizations • Evolution of current Kudu testing management tools • Will enable testing on demand • Acceptance testing by institutions • Internal testing by vendors • Vendor-to-vendor remote testing via the Internet • “Virtualized” Connectathon testing to augment the face-to-face testing event

18. Connectathon Scorecard

19. What happens after the Connectathon? • Successful results (specific by IHE profile/actor) are published by the sponsors (www.ihe.net) • Vendors self-certify, by publishing IHE Integration Statements: Precise and explicit public interoperability commitment for a specific commercial product. • Only vendors who are successful are entitled to participate in Interoperability Showcase demonstrations: • HIMSS Annual Conference (February 26th – March 1st, New Orleans) • ACC Annual Conference (March 24th – 27th, New Orleans) • Canada e-Health 2007 Conference (May 27th – 30th, Quebec City) • RSNA Annual Conference (November 25th – 30th, Chicago) • others…

20. IHE Integration Statement

21. RFPs & Integration Statements • Be Brief ? • “The system must support HL7” • Be Effective ? • “The system must support the following HL7 V2 messages according to the following 100 pages of specifications” • Be Both: • “The system must support IHE Patient ID Cross-reference as a Patient Identifier Source actor” • Integration Statement • Version 2.1 of the ACME Enterprise HIS supports IHE Patient ID Cross-referencing as Patient Identifier Source actor Requiring vendors to publish their products’ IHE Integration Statements provides a very effective catalyst in achieving market-driven interoperability

22. RFP Language (actual example)

23. Connectathon Tour • You will be led by “docents” • There will be a number of “stopping points”, illustrating different aspects of the Connectathon • Vendors describing “what is going on now” • Vendors describing “what happens after the Connectathon is over” • Monitors, describing how tests are evaluated and scored • Project Managers, describing how the Connectathon is organized and managed • Staggered departure, in order to minimize disruption • Feel free to observe and listen, but respect the effort that is underway and refrain from disrupting the engineers at work!

24. Connectathon Floor Layout

25. Enjoy the Tour! Please reconvene at 2:15pm