Adoption of the Carequality Framework Policies Document

April 5, 2022 |
Carequality Blog

It is with great pleasure that we announced the formal adoption of the Carequality Framework Policies (CFP) document last month. This new Carequality Element (a distinction reserved for our foundational policy documents) removes a major logistical obstacle as Carequality continues to innovate new policies and Use Cases.

Background

Currently, a variety of policies are duplicated between Use Cases. For example, Carequality policy cornerstones, like Non-discrimination and Full Participation, are nearly identical between several Use Cases Implementation Guides and other Carequality Elements.

Each Implementation Guide (IG) has its own update cycle including rounds of community feedback, workgroup development, and governing body approval. These cycles can take as long as two years to complete. In order to update any one of the shared policies (that are now consolidated into the CFP), the Carequality amendment process dictates that an additional approval cycle would be required for each affected Implementation Guide(s). Importantly, this is the case even when the policy language is exactly the same between Use Cases.

The Carequality Framework Policies document is one overarching Carequality Element that will house all of these common policies. Consolidating these policies into a separate Element frees them from the update cycles of the specific Use Cases, provides a user-friendly way to present them, and gives the Implementer community a nimbler mechanism to enact policy change. Going forward, most of the duplicative policy language will be removed from the individual Use Case IGs (and any other relevant Element). Implementation Guides will largely consist of technical components specific to that Use Case and point to the CFP for general framework policies. There will always be instances where some policy language will exist in a particular IG – because it is only relevant to that IG. For example, policies around the use of the OAuth workflow would apply to FHIR and appear in the IG for that Use Case, but not the Query-Based Document Implementation Guide.

What You’ll Find in the Carequality Framework Policies Document

As previously mentioned, this new Element consolidates policies from our FHIR, Push, Query and other documents into one resource. Those of you who are familiar with our Implementation Guides and polices will find a fair amount of familiar text, though we encourage all Implementers and perspective Implementers to thoroughly review the document as some policies may include updates to that originate from a Use Case that you are unfamiliar with.

Highlights Include:

  • 1.2 Non-Substantive Changes
  • 3.2.1 Treatment
  • 3.4 Data Sufficiency and Integrity
  • 3.5 Secondary Use

Review the CFP document and other policies at https://carequality.org/resources/.

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