Associations and Foundations

Associations and foundations play a fundamental role in the implementation of open-standard based interoperability. By promoting and supporting the usage of open standards,

1. developers can grain greater visibility
2. developers may have a greater incentive to make use of open standards
3. medical providers could more knowledge about the existence and benefits of open standards

Things that associations and foundations can do:

Interoperability Showcases

Project funding

If a foundation is providing funding for specific innovation or research projects, in the application form a requirement for making use of open standards to import and export data could be added. This alone would be of almost zero cost to the foundation, yet provide a huge drive for applicants to implement standards.

The NIH and the NSF have already started moving in this direction.

Inform members

Articles in journal, morning huddle emails, courses and information booths at meetings.