Draft Statewide Collaboration Process Guidelines

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. SCP Structure: Roles and Responsibilities
  3. Workgroup Structure: Roles and Responsibilities
  4. Product Development/Decision-Making Process
  5. SCP Communications and Resources

1. Introduction

The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) is facilitating the Statewide Collaboration Process (SCP) comprised of the New York State Department of Health (DOH), HEAL NY awardees and other stakeholders to collaboratively develop the common policies, standards, technical approaches and services for New York's health information infrastructure, including the Statewide Health Network for New York (SHIN-NY), as an underpin to a value-oriented, high-performing health care system.

The purpose of this document is to outline the structure and processes through which the SCP will operate and be facilitated by NYeC. A guiding principle of the SCP is that decisions will be made and products developed in a collaborative, consensus-driven manner through a fully open, transparent process to which everybody can contribute to ensure health IT advances in the public's interest.

Specifically, this document outlines: (a) the structure of the SCP including each body's roles and responsibilities; (b) the structure of the SCP workgroups, including each participant's roles and responsibilities; and (c) the process for developing products and making decisions within these structures.

While we hope that this document sets out a clear structure and process for successful execution of the SCP, we also expect that this will undergo continuous evaluation and adjustments. We look forward to your ongoing input as we do so.

2. SCP Structure

Image showing the structure and processes through which the Statewide Collaboration Process will operate and be facilitated by The New York eHealth Collaborative

Roles and Responsibilities

DOH/NYeC Leadership

  • Define state health IT strategy
  • Establish scope for, and final approval of, SCP products
  • Develop state health IT governance & regulatory framework
  • Make crosscutting policy decisions

NYeC POC/POC Steering Committee

  • Reviews and approves recommended workgroup policies and products via governance process for presentation to NYeC and DOH
  • Reviews and makes recommendations on SCP structure and process
  • Supports DOH/NYeC leadership in making overall strategy decisions

Workgroups

  • Further defines policies for and develops products through collaborative consensus-building work structures
  • Makes recommendations to POC

3. Workgroup Structure: Roles and Responsibilities

Chairs/Vice-Chairs

  • Call and facilitate meetings
  • Foster consensus among workgroup participants to make decisions
  • Resolve issues and disagreements, or if unresolved refer them to the POC Steering Committee
  • Work with staff consultants to develop agendas and meeting materials
  • Work with staff consultants to develop project plans
  • Create subgroups to work on specific areas as necessary
  • Where appropriate request liaisons from other workgroups; upon other workgroups' request arrange to provide liaisons from own workgroup
  • Lead workgroup in its review of other workgroup products
  • Lead discussion for providing final disposition on public comments
  • Attend workgroup co-chair meetings

Members

  • Regularly attend meetings and actively participate in work efforts, including subgroups
  • Communicate workgroup activities and decisions back to their organizations
  • Represent their organizations; bring issues and feedback forward from their organizations
  • Comply with workgroup decisions and fully integrate workgroup products into implementation plans
  • Accept and complete action items from chair to advance progress of workgroup

Liaisons from Other Workgroups

For specific topics, each workgroup will be expected to work with representatives from other workgroups to coordinate development of work products that affect and involve more than one workgroup.

  • Represent the opinions of their workgroups at those meetings
  • Provide regular progress reports to their workgroups

Staff Consultants

  • Develop agendas and meeting materials with chairs
  • Develop and manage project plans, including deliverables, milestones and timelines, in coordination with chairs
  • Support meeting facilitation
  • Ensure compliance with workgroup policies and procedures
  • Draft policies and develop work products
  • Keep minutes, record action items and decisions
  • Maintain workgroup membership lists
  • Submit monthly reports to NYeC on workgroup progress
  • Log comments provided during public comment period and document formal disposition

4. Policy/Work Product Development/Decision-Making Process

Stage 1: Identification of Deliverables and Timelines

  • Initial expectations as to workgroup deliverables are identified in their charters. Further specification and iteration of those deliverables will be done within the workgroup and through consultation with NYeC and DOH. This will include identification of those policies and work products that need to go to the POC Steering Committee for approval – including binding policy and technical products.
  • It is expected that once these deliverables have been identified, an early priority of the workgroup will be to identify what interaction and coordination is required with other workgroups. It shall reach out to those workgroups to do begin discussion of how to coordinate development of those products.
  • Where there is difference in opinion as to which workgroup has jurisdiction over a certain policy/work products and decision making, these issues will be escalated to NYeC and DOH.
  • Deliverable: Description of Issue and Scope of Work

Stage 2: Initial Development of Draft Deliverable

  • The primary workgroup responsible for the policy/work product shall develop the draft deliverable in coordination with other impacted workgroups.
  • A public comment period will take place once the draft deliverables have been developed. The workgroup will be expected to log any comments and provide a formal disposition to every comment.
  • Deliverable: Draft Policy/Work Product

Stage 3: Review by NYeC Policy and Operations Council (POC) Steering Committee

  • The POC Steering Committee shall review the draft work product in consultation with the POC and either approve it, or send back suggested edits or scope of work for further iteration.
  • A second public comment period will ensue after any amendments have been made resulting from the POC Steering Committee's feedback. Again the workgroup will be expected to log any comments and provide a formal disposition to every comment.
  • Deliverable: Draft Policy/Work Product v2

Stage 4: Final Review and Approval by NYeC Board/DOH

  • NYeC Board and DOH shall review the final work product together with comments. They shall either approve the product or send back suggested edits or scope of work for further iteration.
  • Deliverable: Final Policy/Work Product

Stage 5: Operational Guidance and Feedback

  • As these work products are put into practice, there will be a continuous feedback loop from those implementation projects back to the collaborative workgroups to review implementation issues.
  • Deliverable: Proposed Revisions to Policy/Work Product

Workgroup Decision-Making Process

  • All workgroup decisions are to be made by consensus; workgroup is expected to make every effort to build consensus for all decisions.
  • If there is a significant difference of opinion on a major issue that cannot be resolved through other means, the workgroup can report the issue to the POC Steering Committee using an "issues form" which NYeC will make available. The workgroup should use the issues form to report the divergent opinions and identify the requested scope for resolution. The POC Steering Committee will send back its verdict or parameters for resolution of the issue.

POC Decision-Making Process

  • A POC Steering Committee will be formed to be an efficient, manageable decision-making body of the POC, while still being representative of its full membership. The Steering Committee will be comprised of members of the SCP, including RHIO/CHITA members of the POC, participating for fixed terms on a rotating basis. More details around the process for selecting the Steering Committee and defining their operating procedures will be developed and published separately.
  • The chair of the POC Steering Committee shall provide the Steering Committee at least five days notice of a vote to approve work products. Materials subject to that vote shall be distributed with at least with the same amount of notice.
  • At a meeting where products are to be reviewed, the chair shall ask if there are any objections to products being approved. If none, the product shall be approved.
  • If there is an objection, the approval decision shall go to a formal vote.
  • Approval of work products requires a quorum (majority) of voting members to be in attendance at that meeting.

Appeals Process

In the event that policies and procedures around a workgroup decision are not properly followed, a member organization has the right to appeal the workgroup decision to the POC Steering Committee. During the investigation the Steering Committee can suspend the initial decision. More details around the process for the Steering Committee's handling of appeals will be developed and published separately.

5. SCP Communications and Resources

SCP Communications

  • Workgroups are required to keep minutes of each meeting including at a minimum every workgroup action item, decision and major area of discussion.
  • Workgroups are required to submit monthly reports to NYeC with the following detail:
    • Progress on deliverables
    • Plans for the following month
    • Issues and risks
  • There will be regular monthly meetings of workgroup co-chairs to discuss progress and issues.

Workgroup Resources

  • Project management tool
  • Document repository
  • Tele- and web-conference tools
  • Other tools to be determined upon consultation with workgroups and assessment of needs