• the XML Special Interest Group - which supports the HL7 mission through recommendations on use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) standards for all of HL7's platform- and vendor-independent healthcare specifications.

• the Structured Documents Technical Committee - which support the HL7 mission through development of structured document standards for healthcare.

Both of these groups have produced work items that have been ratified by the HL7 membership. In 1999, HL7 endorsed a recommendation for using XML as an alternative syntax for HL7 V2.3.1 messages. This recommendation was informative in nature (not required for compliance) and was thus not submitted to ANSI for approval. However, an XML encoding for Version 2.4 will be balloted and submitted for approval to ANSI in early 2001.

In September 2000, the HL7 membership ratified Version 1 of the Clinical Document Architecture, which defines an XML architecture for exchange of clinical documents. The encoding is based on XML DTDs included in the specification and its semantics are defined using the HL7 RIM (Reference Information Model) and HL7 registered coded vocabularies. This is a normative document that will be submitted to ANSI for approval.

The initial release of Version 3, slated for publication in December 2001, will use only XML encoding. The first of the suite of documents to comprise Version 3, the Version 3 Abstract Data Types and its accompanying XML Implementation Technology Specification, passed the Committee Level Ballot in September of this year, but will return for another Committee Level Ballot for January 2001.

HL7 actively participates in and supports the W3C, the organization responsible for the development of XML.