An important organization is the Internet Engineering Task Force and should be invited to discuss its activities with this subcommittee. In general, HL7 supports the stated process of carrying out these requirements. We do, however, have concerns that DHHS fully understands the varied set of issues and consequences of decisions. From the market perspective, the millions of dollars which have been invested in existing standards and the work in creating standards which are workable should not be ignored. The work of the experts which was required to produce those standards should be recognized and changes to those standards should be made with caution.
Standards also require maintenance, updating and distribution.
Committees making these recommendations have varied levels of understanding in the standards process. These members should be educated in the area of standards so that informed decisions can be made. The importance of easily available and freely distributed standards must be appreciated. The HL7 standard has evolved over five versions of the standard. This evolution was driven initially by developing the technology of the standard and by meeting the immediate needs of the members of HL7.