Health Level Seven (HL7) Standards in Canada are regulated through an international agreement with HL7 International Inc., co-owners of the intellectual property. Under the HL7 Affiliate Agreement, Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) is the legal signatory authority and host of HL7 Canada.
As per the Affiliates agreement, the HL7 Canada Council is responsible for voting on HL7 technical and administrative ballots and board positions.
Additionally, the HL7 Canada Council is responsible for:
- Promoting and supporting the use of HL7 related pan-Canadian health information standards.
- Promoting and supporting the domestic and international harmonization of HL7 standards to enable the sharing of health information in Canada.
- Ensuring that consensus positions, advice and decisions are reached with appropriate consultation and in an open, transparent and accountable manner without a preponderance of influence by any one stakeholder group.
Compositions and Elections:
The membership of the HL7 Canada Council serves a term of two years, after which an election shall be held. An elected member can be re-elected for an unlimited number of terms. The nomination period will commence every year in mid January. Each year there will be two Member at Large positions open for election, one for a public sector representative and one for a private sector representative. Every two years, there will be an election for the HL7 Canada Affiliate Chair position.
Role | Process of Election | Number of Seats |
HL7 Canada Affiliate Chair | Elected by the HL7 Canada Community | 1 |
Infoway Representative | Appointed by Infoway | 1 |
HL7 Canada Members at Large | Elected by the HL7 Canada Community | 4 |
Nominations
Eligible candidates may be nominated or may choose to self-nominate during the designated nomination period, by:
- completing and uploading a Nomination Form in the HL7 Community Documents (designated folder) and
- posting a reply to the Elections forum post alerting the HL7 Community of the official submission.
When the nomination period closes, all submissions will be consolidated by Infoway in preparation for balloting.
Voting
Voting is hosted on InfoCentral. Each member of the HL7 Canada InfoCentral community is entitled to submit a single, confidential vote for each of the candidate positions across the community/stakeholder groups represented. If there is only one candidate for a position, a vote will not be necessary, and the candidate will be appointed to the HL7 Canada Council. The successful candidates will be selected by simple majority.
The elected Council will be announced in the HL7 Canada Community via a forum post.
Ballots: HL7 Canada Voting Members
The HL7 Canada Council is responsible for voting on HL7 technical and administrative ballots and board positions.
As per the Affiliates agreement, the total number of voting members is determined by the number of paid HL7 Canada members (number of seats equals 10 per cent of total dues). Currently HL7 Canada has four votes on international ballots, based on the HL7 Canada Affiliate membership.
The voting positions are determined in the following manner:
- HL7 Affiliate Chair holds one vote
- The Infoway representative holds one vote
- The two remaining voters are elected annually by the HL7 Canada council and ideally include a newly elected HL7 Canada Council member, as well as a member who is partway through their two-year term.