Introduction

This document provides policies and guidelines for organizations participating in testing at the IHE European Connectathon ("Participants") designed to help ensure successful testing.

Contacts

• Technical Manager
  
  • Eric Poiseau
• Administrative Manager 
  • Jacqueline Wait (Invoice, Contract)

Goals

Connectathon testing has three specific goals:

1. Testing Participant implementations of actors and profiles defined in the IHE Technical Frameworks

2. Testing and providing feedback on actors and profiles defined in the IHE Technical Frameworks
3. Preparing for any IHE demonstrations in which Participants may also be involved.

Participants are expected to support all three goals as appropriate, to work in a cooperative manner and to show respect for both their peers and the IHE testing process.

Registration

Online Testing Management System (Gazelle)

IHE uses an online testing management system, dubbed "Gazelle," to aid in organizing, conducting and recording the testing process. Prospective Participants begin the registration process by entering information in Gazelle about their organization and the systems they wish to test.

Participants are provided with secure access to their account in Gazelle. Throughout the testing process, they use it to access testing requirements and plans for their systems, to find and communicate with prospective testing partners, to track the successful completion of their testing activities and to receive other communications from the Sponsors and the Connectathon Management Team. Gazelle is also used by IHE Europe and the Connectathon Management Team to record and publish the results of testing. Participants are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves in advance with Gazelle and to check it regularly throughout the testing process for announcements and other information.

Fees

Connectathon registration fees are based on the number of systems a Participant registers and the number of IHE Domains (eg, Cardiology, IT Infrastructure, Patient Care Coordination, Patient Care Devices, Radiology, ["Domains"]) in which those systems are registered to test. Fees for the IHE 2011 European Connectathon are:

1. Participation fees are proportional to the number of systems being tested and the number of IHE domains (see below) in which these systems participate. Participation Fee is 2900 Euros for the first system, 3000 Euros for the following ones, for IHE or epSOS connectathon.
2. A domain fee of EUR 1000 will be charged per domain. epSOS domain will be charged EUR 2000.
3. The second domain in the following list - IT-Infrastructure, Pharmacy, Cardiology, Pathology - is free of charge.
4. All prices (in Euros) are subject to Belgium VAT which can be reclaimed by your company :
   •  The number of company/organisation representatives at the connectathon is restricted to 2 persons per system. Additional participants will be registered during the Connectathon and charged / invoiced 70 Euros per day per participant. On site registration will be charged EUR 100 per day. 
   • The technical manager has the right to assign additional domains free of charge to actors after the registration in order to enable correct testing of profiles and if this does not result in additional preparation for the participant in question.
5. "If the performance of the Agreement by either Party or any obligation hereunder is prevented, restricted, or interfered with by reason of a Force Majeure, the Party whose performance is so affected, upon giving prompt notice in writing within fourteen (14) days after the occurrence of such Force Majeure to the other party and shall act to mitigate the damages caused by such Force Majeure, if possible. If a Force Majeure occurs, no Party shall be responsible for any damages, increased costs, or losses that the other Party may sustain by reason of such failure or delay in performance. The Party claiming Force Majeure shall be excused from such performance to the extent of such Force Majeure event, provided however, that the Party so affected shall take all reasonable steps to avoid or remove such causes of non-performance and shall resume performance of its obligations hereunder with dispatch whenever such causes are removed.Should these events of circumstances continue for more than three (3) months, each Party may lawfully and by registered letter terminate the Agreement, without any compensation to the other Party being due. "
6. Domains: an IHE Domain is a specific clinical or operational area of healthcare characterized by particular information technology needs and use cases. Each IHE Domain has its own committee structure and produces its own domain-specific Technical Framework. A participant applying to test Actors/Integration Profiles defined in the Technical Framework for a given IHE Domain will be considered to participate in that domain. The epSOS project as a specific domain produces its own specifications available on epSOS website: www.epsos.eu
7. Participation fees are non-refundable four (4) weeks after the end of the registration(a recovery of 50% of due fee can be submitted before the end of this period). The period of retraction is one (1) week. Participation fees will be invoiced following the registration.
8. Participation fees or purchase order are due by no later than January 31st 2011. An extra Late Payment Fee (12%) will be charged when payment has not been received on the IHE-Bank Account on February 5th 2011 or purchase order has not been provided.
9. The IHE Review Committee, reserves the right to refuse participation to systems containing combinations of Actors it deems to be inappropriate or not reflective of practical systems architecture. The IHE Review Committee will make this determination in consultation with the Project Management Team. Participants may be asked to revise their applications to limit the number and type of IHE Actors included in a single system.

The following text is the content of the NDA section of the contract signed by participants to the Pisa Connectathon

The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise ("IHE") initiative has the goal of stimulating integration of information and imaging systems used in the delivery of healthcare. IHE develops guidelines and supports a testing process and other activities to encourage the implementation of standards to enable communication among such systems.

1. In order to encourage the exchange of information among participants necessary to the testing process (including the Connectathon testing event to be held April 12-16, 2010) it is important that both the Sponsors and each Participant be protected against improper disclosure of technical or commercial information by any other Participant. Furthermore, the Connectathon process requires participants to resolve as expediently as possible and in a spirit of cooperation any software bugs and interoperability issues that arise during the testing process. The Participant thus agrees to keep confidential and forbear from using for any commercial purposes any information obtained from other participants in the course of the testing process. The Participant further agrees to respect all other Participants and their systems and equipment.The undersigned Participant shall not be obligated to keep information secret and in confidence if it can show that such information:
   • Appears in printed publications distributed by the Sponsors in the public domain; 
   • was public knowledge at the time of its receipt; 
   • became public knowledge after its receipt without breach of this agreement by the undersigned Participant; 
   • was rightfully disclosed to the Participant by a third party without an obligation of confidentiality;
   • is provably independently developed by the undersigned Participant's personnel without access to the confidential information; 
   • is required to be disclosed pursuant to a legal, judicial or administrative proceeding or by law; or 
   • is approved for release by the prior written authorization of all other organizations in question.
2. The Sponsors agree to take reasonable steps to provide a work atmosphere conducive to a successful testing process, including discouraging the improper disclosure and use of information by Participants. In consideration of being permitted by the Sponsors to participate in the IHE testing process, the undersigned Participant agrees to hold the Sponsors harmless from any judgments, fines, amounts paid in settlement and reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees incurred by them in connection with the defense of any lawsuit or other claim which involves conduct of the undersigned Participant constituting a breach of the nondisclosure and nonuse obligations described in the preceding paragraphs. 
3. Supporting information and documents developed by the Sponsors for use within the IHE testing process, including but not limited to specifications, test data and marketing materials are the copyrighted property of IHE and its Sponsors. In the spirit of collaboration and in keeping with copyright law, no Participant may lay claim to the information created for the IHE testing and demonstration process without written consent from the Sponsors. After software, technical information or documentation is formally released into the public domain by the Sponsors in order to further the purposes of the IHE initiative, the foregoing restrictions on disclosure or use will no longer apply to any software and/or technical information or documentation that is so released.
4. For the purposes of sharing information with their membership and the public and promoting the IHE initiative, the Sponsors intend to acquire and reproduce representative images of systems being tested by Participants at the Connectathon. Any such images acquired may potentially be used in printed publications, Web pages and multimedia presentations promoting the IHE initiative. Such images will not be used by the Sponsors for any other purpose.
5. The undersigned Participant, in consideration of being permitted by IHE Europe to participate in the IHE initiative, hereby grants IHE Europe the absolute and irrevocable right and unrestricted permission to use, re-use, display, distribute, transmit, publish, re-publish, copy, or otherwise exploit, either in whole or in part, either digitally, in print, or in any other medium now or hereafter known, photograph taken of its personnel and equipment, or in which its personnel and equipment may be included; to alter the same without restriction; and to copyright the same. The undersigned understands and agrees that the Sponsors may or may not, as they choose, use the Participant's name in conjunction with the photographs taken.
6. The Participant also hereby releases and discharges IHE Europe and their agents, representatives, and assignees from any and all claims and demands arising out of or in connection with the use of the photographs, including without limitation any and all claims for invasion of privacy, right of publicity, and improper disclosure of commercial information.
7. Finally, the undersigned Participant acknowledges and agrees that certain software and related technical information and documentation which will eventually be released into the public domain by IHE in connection with the implementation of the IHE initiative (the "IHE Software") will be made available on an "as is" basis and that neither IHE Europe nor any other Participant will make the warranty about the IHE Software, its performance, its merchantability or fitness for any particular use, its freedom from any computer diseases, or its conformity to any specification and that all risk as to the quality and performance of the IHE Software will be with the users of the IHE Software.

The purpose of this form is to evaluate the processed epSOS CDA documents.