What's next for me?

It has been a relaxing week, but I am still interested in opportunities for me. I have had a handful of phone calls. I hear that my name is mentioned positively in many conversations, that I am not involved in.  LinkedIn tells me that my announcement has been seen 11,000 times, my blog article only 104. So, you can understand that I am getting really dramatically mixed messages.

What I'm looking for

I have put together a Resume, and doing that did solidify my interests in 

1. Standards development (FHIR)
2. Profile development (Implementation Guides)
3. Use of Profiles and Standards (Apps and Infrastructure that use standards)

I don't like doing the administrative things that a consultant needs to do, like finding new work, billing, following up on billing. I did this a few times over the last few years, and it is outright drudgery. I also don't want to move into a corporate position, like a director of blah, or senior so-and-so. Learning a new corporate process is not inviting, I did that three times already.

I know that I am close to retirement, I can feel the beach sand beneath my feet.  Thus, I understand that whatever I do needs to make this transparently clear. And I recognize that might limit my opportunities. I am okay with that.

Ongoing Contributions

I will continue my work in HL7 and SHIFT:

• SHIFT on their work to make Consent more implemented. I have been providing subject matter expertise in FHIR Consent and the IHE Privacy Consent on FHIR (PCF) implementation guide. Right now, the team is working on implementing, so I don't have much to contribute. I would like to be involved in code reviews. I am also providing expertise in the discussion with various stakeholders and implementers. 
• HL7 on their work with FAST Consent, which is taking an administrative step beyond IHE-PCF to define policies and management steps for instances of Consent. This work can only be done in a regional context where regional policies can limit the variability. So, context is critical here. Having reviewed many regional policies and applied them to the development of FHIR Consent, I have a pragmatic and realistic perspective to provide.
• HL7 on AI Transparency IG, which is using features we built into FHIR for tagging data that was contributed by AI and providing details of that AI actions in Provenance.  I have applied these concepts to IHE profiles and Data Trust Alliance, and other side projects. The power of Provenance is best shown with use-case analysis and examples. 

I will continue with these, even if only Pro Bono. I certainly hope that I have other opportunities that I could contribute to. I think I still have plenty of energy and expertise to be applied to Healthcare Interoperability Standards development and promulgation.

Monday Morning, nowhere to report

This Monday morning started differently—I’m awake, ready to work, but with nowhere to report. 

After nearly nine years at ByLight, my journey there has abruptly ended. ByLight had taken me on as a standards representative back in November of 2016. I have worked on multiple CDA, XDS, and FHIR-based projects ever since. Most recently, I was helping modernize MyHealtheVet—the VA’s patient portal where Veterans securely access their medical records, message their care teams, and manage prescriptions. Our team was about halfway through a FHIR transition and updating the web interface, with Oracle Health (Cerner) integration just beginning to support the VA’s evolving EHR ecosystem.

But the contract was unexpectedly not renewed. We were all let go, and I imagine many of my colleagues are now, like me, seeking what comes next. ByLight fought hard to continue the work, but I don’t know what led to the decision or what the future holds for the portal itself.

What now?

I had expected to retire somewhere in the next 2–5 years, with time to prepare and transition. That plan changed overnight.

Today, I was supposed to co-chair the IHE IT Infrastructure Technical Committee’s face-to-face meeting. Instead, I had to inform my co-chairs and peers that I’m no longer employed and no longer have standing within IHE. Others had scheduling challenges too, so we opted to postpone and shift to our regular t-con development calls instead. IHE will also need to redistribute the roles I held—GitHub administration, IG publishing, and more.

I’ve also informed HL7, and they’ve revoked my authority. I recall from before that HL7 has a method to extend membership continuity, but I haven’t heard whether that will apply to my case.

What's next?

While I had begun thinking about retirement, this came too soon. I’m now exploring consulting work—perhaps independently, perhaps through a contracting organization. I’m not interested in stepping into a dramatically different role or climbing further up the leadership ladder; when I look at what’s done “up there,” I don’t find much that sparks inspiration. It doesn’t feel like the right way to wind down. More likely that I use my FHIR Implementation Guide experience and skills to help projects and regions on their profiling.

I’ve seen other standards geeks continue consulting into their later years, which I’ve always viewed with mixed feelings. The world needs space for fresh leadership, and that’s hard to foster when the same people continue to occupy those positions.

So, here I am again—like I was in 2016—dusting off my resume and pondering the next chapter. I do have a few camping vacations scheduled from before all this, and I plan to take them. Maybe the timing will turn out to be fortuitous.