Clinical Measure Working Group (CLIME)

A Clinical Measure working group (CLIME) is a small group of mobile health (mHealth) toolmakers, clinical experts and Open mHealth team members selected to represent relevant stakeholder groups to address specific challenges in the development and refinement of schemas. CLIME members are invited based on their individual expertise and experience in specific technical issues and areas, and on their ability to represent relevant constituencies. The recommendations they make may not necessarily reflect those of the organizations to which they are affiliated.

CLIME members contribute their complementary expertise to achieve a rough consensus on schemas for high-value data elements or clinical measures in a particular clinical domain (e.g., medication adherence or sleep). The objective is to generate better Open mHealth  schemas, i.e., schemas that model the “right” data in the most appropriate and useful way for both clinicians and toolmakers.

Mandate

  1. to provide OmH with expert guidance on the important characteristics defining data in the relevant space (e.g., medication adherence, pain and mobility)
  2. to formulate use cases to drive and support the work in #1 above
  3. to evaluate proposed schemas via sample data
  4. to communicate the final results at an Open mHealth Summit and regular updates through the Open mHealth blog
  5. to advise on strategies to encourage uptake of relevant published schemas

CLIME members work in a collaborative environment (Google Docs) to document their work and meet regularly online (via Google Hangouts) to discuss specific points. A CLIME lasts until the work is completed, which is expected to be on the order of a couple months. CLIME members serve as volunteers, providing their services without financial compensation.

Expectations

  • CLIME members will provide their perspective to the problem, help draft use cases, and will use sample data to review proposed schemas. (Non-developers are not expected to be able to read JSON schemas.)
  • CLIME members will contribute to documentation and project summaries as needed.
  • Open mHealth data scientists will create/update the schemas and sample data.
  • Open mHealth staff will organize the monthly/biweekly calls, circulate minutes after each call and create documentation as needed.
  • One or more CLIME members will present the results of the CLIME at an Open mHealth summit.

The membership and work of a CLIME is made available publicly on the Open mHealth website. Outlines of discussions and decisions will be posted in the spirit of radical transparency. A CLIME functions as an independent advisory committee to Open mHealth. There is no requirement to obtain a formal consensus on the topics discussed, and different opinions will be duly noted.

It is also important to note that it is up to each CLIME member’s discretion how much they wish to share about their technology’s IP. We will not ask members to sign NDAs.

All final schema(s) and sample data will be published in the Open mHealth schema library, with clear attribution to the CLIME and its participating members. While CLIME members are individuals whose opinion OmH values, respects, and seeks, OmH is not strictly bound to adhere to the CLIME’s advice at all times given other factors that need to be considered in the publication of schemas pertaining the CLIME’s domain.