Connectathons
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Connectathons have long been viewed as a staple of technical interoperability testing around the world. A key benefit of Connectathons is the ability to provide objective evaluation of technical specifications and to demonstrate solution portability and encapsulation.
IHE Integration Profiles are tested at Connectathons. These profiles are use-case based implementation guides built on established standards, including HL7® FHIR®, DICOM®, W3C and others. Profiles are implemented in care settings and health information exchanges around the world and describe and clarify how to use standards in an unambiguous way to solve a particular interoperability challenge.
Connectathons represent a high quality, technical conformity assessment event (quality label) where participants prove that their products have implemented industry grade integration profiles (standardized pieces of core interoperability) and that their products can successfully carry out data exchanges with other systems (concepts of plug & play). Successful participation in a Connectathon allows vendors to proudly and confidently represent their product(s) as conformed to published interoperability patterns. It also offers system integrators and health data custodians the opportunity to design data infrastructures and distribution networks with standardized capabilities conformed to by vendors.
It is much easier to design a complex eco-system from standardized pieces of functionality than it is to describe every single aspect of systems in isolation. Just like the most complex electronic systems are built from catalogs of discrete elements, integration profiles break down the complexity into manageable pieces of core functionality. System integrators, who are responsible for designing strategies and architectures that deliver interoperability ecosystems, can use this approach in their system design.
Projectathons
Projectathons are testing events that are dedicated to a specific project that uses a set of IHE profiles in their interoperability specifications. Typically, these events are organized for specifications under development or specifications focused on a limited realm (e.g., national or regional implementation). Similar to Connectathons, Projectathons bring together vendors to test and collaborate on specific use cases. The key difference between a Connectathon and Projectathon is that the outcome of the Projectathon does not result in a conformance stamp of approval for products. The intent of Projectathons is to accelerate product development, bring developers and implementers together and help identify and bridge difficult conditions in specification development to ensure development choices support interoperability and efficient business and clinical workflows.
Testing Platform
Testing for Connectathons and Projectathons make use of the IHE Gazelle testing platform. The platform allows vendors to test and prove that their products align with the published specifications. This platform has been used to support quality testing in IHE Connectathons for over 15 years worldwide.
Participation Lifecycle
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The information on this page is dynamically updated as the collaboration activities are progressing with the market place and jurisdictional partners. As a result, the content is expected to change very frequently. If interested in participating please bookmark this page and/or use the Watch capability at the top of this page. |
Definition
A Projectathon is an important step and a best-practice approach in testing and validation of a specification package, where implementers collaborate to test their solutions using methodology and tools that accelerate interoperability. A Projectathon provides an opportunity for participants to test their systems among themselves and against a reference environment. It is also an opportunity to collaborate among peers to enable hands-on knowledge exchange.
Focus
The focus of the first pan-Canadian Projectathon is to test and improve the quality of the pan-Canadian Patient Summary Interoperability Specifications (PS-CA Specifications) to ensure they are implementable, testable and meet expectations. The aims of the Projectathon are to identify potential issues in the basic specifications, give implementers a chance to test their implementations in live environments, and strengthen implementation guidelines and standards in the health sector.
Infoway views this as a preliminary event before any conformity assessment, quality label or certification process.
Participation
Vendors and jurisdictions who are planning to implement the PS-CA Specifications are invited to participate in the Projectathon. In addition, any interested party that has Patient Summaries in their future roadmap are welcome to participate.
By participating in the Projectathon, you will:
- Have the opportunity to be an early adopter and an influencer of the final specification;
- Gain a better understanding of the expected integration patterns for your products;
- Identify dependencies and integration challenges;
- Interact with the jurisdictional teams that will ultimately use your products;
- Ensure quality for the benefit of clinicians and patients;
- Accelerate your readiness for implementation;
- Save time and money through a harmonized pan-Canadian approach;
- Get familiar with the validation/testing processes and tools; and
- Help achieve our collective goals of developing a quality national standard.
Additionally, through participation in the Projectathon, participants can prepare for practical applications of the PS-CA Specifications.
Approach
A suite of virtual tools, collectively referred to as Gazelle, will be deployed to support a free, 3-day remote testing event in March 2022. Gazelle provides jurisdictions and vendors an opportunity to validate the role they will be playing in an ecosystem and ensure they are able to satisfy the interoperability requirements. Furthermore, Gazelle offers several self-serve, self-test and innovation opportunities for jurisdictions and vendors to test their alignment to the represented integration profiles.
The Projectathon event is organized by Infoway with support from a world leader organization in the space - IHE Catalyst.
Scope
Infoway will stand up a virtualized instance of the Gazelle platform and collaborate to define clinical scenarios for both EMR and HIS solutions, including “create and submit a summary” and “query and retrieve a published summary”.
Provincial solutions will act as repositories and Patient Summary content will consist of the Header, Medication Summary, Allergies & Intolerances, Problem List, History of Procedures, and Past History of Illness.
Preparation and Requirements
In preparation for the Projectathon, Infoway and IHE Catalyst will:
- Host three training webinars;
- Develop a FHIR document viewer;
- Deploy an OpenAPI browser for both interface specifications (MHD and CA:FeX);
- Work with participants to develop a clinical scenario that will identify the required test data for the Projectathon;
- Offer helpdesk support prior to and during the Projectathon; and
- Publish a report on learnings after the Projectathon.
Participant requirements for participation in the Projectathon include:
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Vendor
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Jurisdiction
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Register for event, including signing a Participation Agreement
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X
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X
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Attend 3 training webinars
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X
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X
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Complete connectivity testing
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X
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X
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Validate test cases and clinical scenarios
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X
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X
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X
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X
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Create test records
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X
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Implement APIs
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X
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Prototype FHIR transactions
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X
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X
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Prototype the PS-CA FHIR document
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X
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Prototype export of FHIR document
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X
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Important Dates and Events
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Key Dates
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Activity and Overview
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January 20
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Participant Registration Webinar
This webinar will include an overview of the:
- Scope of the Projectathon, including profiles and use cases
- Gazelle tool
- Registration in Gazelle
- How the Projectathon will be organized
- Relevant documentation, including specifications and training materials
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January 20 – February 11
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Participant registration will be open from January 20 – February 11.
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February 14
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Pre-Projectathon Testing Webinar
This webinar will provide detailed information on:
- Gazelle, including Gazelle Test Manager, simulators and validators
- Pre-Projectathon Testing, including objectives, requirements, and test processes
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February 14 – March 11
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Pre-Projectathon testing will occur between February 14 – March 11.
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February 25
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Connectivity Testing Webinar
This webinar will address the objectives, requirements and test processes for the connectivity testing.
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February 28 – March 11
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Connectivity testing will occur between February 28 – March 11.
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March 21 – March 23
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