Policies and Guidelines

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

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.