I've been shopping all weekend and feel rather vindicated that I got the last "Barbie Beetle Fun Car" for my niece by snatching it right out of the reach of an elderly grandmother - so forgive me because I'm still on that high of arbitrated success!
Having said that, I'd like to touch on a few things - there was a valuable point made that the white paper was never about 'SOFTWARE testing', but the thing is, when I see the title of our workgroup, "WEDI SNIP Testing Subworkgroup", I still see testing, and I don't see "certification". May I be a tad bit bold and suggest that be where the split yet collaborative effort prevail? I agree that certification/validation/third-party assessment/a walk in the park.. whatever catchy term you wish to use is a very valuable tool and should continue to be as such. Its benefits far outweigh any risk associated with completing that "PHASE" of your HIPAA implementation. While I do agree that the word "certification" brings forth visions of ISO type palpable metrics and standards in which to aspire to, we aren't there yet but it's a good goal to plan ahead for while jumping out of the box in finding ways to accomplish main-stream conventions and system inter-operability in the interim. On the other hand, when I think of "Testing" (be it system, software, data), terms such as white box, black box, unit testing , module testing, system testing, stress testing, regression testing, user acceptance testing, entrance & exit criteria definitions, work flow testing, test project plans, business buy-off, IT support (which btw, IT and business have to work together like they've never worked together before), QA - (you get the point) all come dashing through my head like a one horse HIPAA implementation sleigh. If the terms listed above in the "testing" paragraph don't bring forth visions of grandeur, than I think in some ways we've missed the mark in what we set out to do. I am by no means whatsoever dismissing the very hard and extremely valuable work that has been done to date. We're experiencing the necessary growing pains in establishing parameters we can all work safely within. But the goal IS to provide logical, yet easily understood (not always an easy thing to accomplish) guideline in which we can all make our specific HIPAA implementations successful while not breaking the bank or our own backs. It's all about being an educated user. So that's the collaborative split I suggest - many organizations are in the throes, if not only beginning their Testing efforts and this is may be where we should veer off (yet run parallel to certification/validation) by providing best business and testing scenarios/practices that will make lives easier and educate those that are craving knowledge in how to TEST. Because quite honestly, the testing PHASE has nothing to do with HIPAA, it will only support and assist in quantifying those efforts - it's assuring that nothing was missed, that people still get the information they need to do a job, and that all departments within an organization are still present within the flow of data. Happy Holidays! Brandi Brandi L. Wyatt AXIOM Systems, Inc. "The Managed Care Systems Experts" 20300 Century Blvd., Suite 120 Germantown, MD 20874-1110 Main: 301.840.3861 Direct: 301.840.9165 x222 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time. You are currently subscribed to wedi-testing as: [email protected] To unsubscribe from this list, go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same as the address subscribed to the list, please use the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org
