NIST Launches Health IT Standards and Testing site
http://healthcare.nist.gov
On February 26, 2010, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched the NIST Health IT Standards and Testing web site. Excerpts from the new site: ”This site provides information about the key health IT testing initiatives underway. It provides an overview of the Health IT Standards Testing Infrastructure,

NIST HIT Standards and Testing

information and access to the test methods to meet meaningful use technical requirements and standards, access to the Health IT Implementation Testing and Support website, as well as educational material on conformance and interoperability testing.”

This program is overseen by the NIST Information Technology Laboratory (ITL).

The site is dividied into four major sections:
1. Health IT Testing Infrastructure
2. Meaningful Use Test Methods
3. What is Conformance Testing
4. Health IT Testing and Support  

1. Health IT Testing Infrastructure
“NIST is responsible for leading the development of the core health IT testing infrastructure that will provide a scalable, multi-partner, automated, remote capability for current and future testing needs.  

“The objective of the Health IT Standards Testing Infrastructure Project is to harmonize the efforts of healthcare standards test development and delivery to meet the demands for conformance and interoperability within the healthcare domain. This is accomplished by working in collaboration with health IT stakeholders such as vendors, implementers, standards organizations and certification bodies to establish a testing infrastructure…”  

Project Stakeholders
“NIST will work with stakeholders to establish and utilize a testing infrastructure that will help ensure that the health information of Americans is exchanged safely, securely, reliably, and only to appropriate sources, and that the standards used are appropriate, consistent, and effective. The stakeholder landscape is outlined as follows:” 

NIST Stakeholders

“The testing infrastructure is intended to centralize health IT testing resources to provide the U.S. healthcare IT industry and the Federal Government with a robust conformance and interoperability testing capability.”

2. Meaningful Use Test Methods
“In support of the health IT certification program, NIST is developing the conformance test methods (test procedures, test data, and test tools) to ensure compliance with the meaningful use technical requirements and standards.

“In developing the test methods, NIST has conducted an analysis of the HHS/ONC Interim Final Rule (IFR) published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2010 including:
–the functional and interoperable requirements
–the referenced standards
–the derived test requirements based on the functional and interoperable requirements and referenced standards
–the test methods and test procedures which could be used to validate conformance with the derived test requirements
–the assumptions which may influence the selection of a specific test method or the scope of testing”

3. What is Conformance Testing
“NIST provides the necessary conformance tests, test tools and techniques to advance healthcare information technology standards that are complete and testable. As an introduction and overview into testing, the following articles provide details around healthcare information technology conformance and interoperability testing.”

Articles on Conformance Testing

• IHE Open Source Project: XDS software
• Message Maker Prototype
• Healthcare Standards Landscape
• Healthcare Information Standards and Testing, A Concept Paper
• Conformance Testing and Certification Framework, White Paper
• What is This Thing Called Conformance, White Paper
• Principles for Writing Conformance Criteria
• Building HL7 EHR-S Conformance Criteria, Slide presentation

4. Health IT Testing and Support
“The Health IT Implementation Testing and Support website provides health IT implementers with access to the tools and resources needed to support and test their implementation of standards-based health systems. The site provides information about the key initiatives that serve as the foundation for the nationwide health IT infrastructure. It provides an overview of the HITSP Interoperability Specifications and the standards that they reference; and provides access to the test resources that are available to support their implementations.

“Visit the Health IT Implementation Testing and Support website for more information.”