Congratulations to Vitro Software director, Berne Gibbons, who was recently elected as a member of the board at Health Level Seven (HL7) Australia.

Founded in 1998, HL7 Australia is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization that supports the creation and effective use of health informatics standards in Australia. It is the local affiliate of HL7 International.

Members of HL7 Australia are representative of those using and benefiting from HL7 Standards in Australia. They make an important and significant contribution to the work of HL7 International and global health informatics standards development more generally.

HL7 Australia is a viable, respected and influential association. Australia is recognised as a leader in the adoption and development of the HL7 family of standards with appropriate national resources and expertise and this has led to better health and efficiency.

Most recently, HL7 Australia has been overseeing a localised version of the HL7 International interoperability initiative, named “the Argonaut Project”, registering Argonaut Australia as a trademark and launching a community consultation on the project's structure and governance.

The Argonaut Project is a private sector collaborative involving major software vendors and healthcare organisations in the US that aims to advance the adoption of standards such as HL7's Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and OAuth to improve health information exchange.

HL7 Australia is now launching a local version with the hope of preparing local vendors and healthcare providers for the outcomes of Argonaut, which promise to rapidly improve the interoperability of electronic health records.

For more information about HL7 visit http://site.hl7.org.au/