Current Mission and Charter with Craig�s updates:

							Current Mission and Charter with Craig’s updates:

Mission
          The Attachment Work Group supports HL7’s mission to create and promote its standards. The
          Attachments Work Group standardizes supplemental information needed to support health care
          insurance. Our purpose is to encourage the use of HL7 for uniform implementation of this
          supplemental information.

          Important efforts, as guided by the Board of HL7, are to:
                      Work jointly with X12N, the insurance subcommittee of ASC X12 and other
                          industry stakeholders.
                      Work jointly with HL7 Structured Documents Work Group in the creation of
                          Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) for attachments
                      Provide support in the development and maintenance of attachments
                      Bridge the gap between clinical and administrative data exchange

Charter
Work Products and Contributions to HL7 Processes
        History
        Since its inception in 1997, the work group has created and balloted implementation guide and
        attachment specifications built upon HL7 version 2.x messaging and upon the HL7 Clinical
        Document Architecture (CDA) standards. The initial attachment standard included an
        implementation guide and detailed specifications for six attachment types: Ambulance Service,
        Rehabilitation Services, Clinical Reports, Laboratory Results, Medication and Emergency
        Department. These were incorporated into a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) under
        HIPAA in 2005 which was subsequently withdrawn in 2008. Other Non-HIPAA attachment
        offerings included but were not limited to, Patient Information Unspecified Content (PIUC),
        Children's Preventive Health Services, Periodontal, and Pre-Authorization/Referrals.

          Current
          With passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and Patient
          Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) which required the Health and Human Services
          Secretary to establish a health claims transaction standard by January 1, 2014, the Attachment
          Work Group voted to align and harmonize the attachment standard based on the supposition
          that meaningful use and electronic medical health records may drive providers and payers to
          request increased access to codified clinical data. In 2011 the work group formally decided to
          move from the original six specifications and adopted the implementation guide for CDA
          Release 2.0 Consolidated CDA Templates built upon HL7 version 3 messaging. This guide
          provides nine attachment types: Continuity of Care, History and Physical, Operative Report,
          Progress Notes, Diagnostic and Imaging Reports, Discharge Summary, Consultation Notes,
          Procedure Notes and Unstructured Documents.
Formal Relationships With Other HL7 Groups
       The Attachments Work Group coordinates its work products with the Structured Documents
       Work Group.

       In addition, the HL7 version 3 Financial Claims and Reimbursement (FICR) Domain supports
       attachments globally for invoice, authorization, coverage extension, and pre-determination
       events. The Financial Management (FM) Work Group intends to directly reference claim
       attachments in FICR Release 2.

Formal Relationship With Groups Outside of HL7
       The HL7 Attachments Work Group works jointly with the insurance subcommittee of Accredited
       Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12), American Dental Association Standards Committee on
       Dental Informatics (ADA SCDI), National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP),
       International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC) and other
       standards development organizations as guided by the Board of HL7. The work group also
       collaborates with Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) and the Regenstrief
       Institute in conjunction with the LOINC® (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes)
       Committee. Possibly S&I Framework (ESMD)