Embedded Files
Shift is more than a project, it’s a community of experts, implementers, and advocates working together to build the future of equitable health data sharing. Shift activates a diverse network of specialized professionals and partner organizations to solve one of the most complex problems in health care: empowering patients with real control over their sensitive data without sacrificing access, safety, or interoperability.
Workstreams
Shift has three foundational workstreams, working together to accomplish our goals of equitable interoperability through technical standards and implementation guidance.
Implementation Workstream
The Implementation workstream guides the development of consensus-based implementation guidance through a Modified Delphi Process to engage subject matter experts to tackle controversial and nuanced privacy challenges.
Shift's Implementation Workstream will be starting Topic 4: Algorithmic Decision Support and AI/ML in Q3 2025. Get Involved!
Technical Workstream
The Technical Workstream develops and maintains the SHIFT Sandbox: an open-source, sustainable reference environment where standards come to life.
This learning and demonstration platform showcases real-world use cases using FHIR and standards-based data segmentation, security labeling, and consent enforcement. It helps clinicians, policymakers, developers, and implementers understand, test, iterate, and advance Shift’s vision of granular, patient-centered data sharing.
Terminology Workstream
The Terminology workstream is working on developing terminology value sets specifically focused on the contents of data elements included within Shift use cases.
This workstream is now directly collaborating with the HL7 Cross-Paradigm Sensitive Data and Sensitivity Flags Library and Guidance Project and is focused on these areas:
Develop an open source library that is shared and maintained as an industry-wide repository of agreed to sensitive data value sets.
Understand jurisdictional privacy rules and classify sensitive data value sets by such regulations.
Develop a process supporting definition, inclusion and publication of new and updated entries.
Follow the work at HL7: Jira | Confluence
Advisory Groups
Four Advisory Groups guide SHIFT's work products, with their expert knowledge and diverse lived experiences providing to the workstreams and Collaborative with relevant resources and information:
Most importantly, the domain experts that volunteer for these groups work tirelessly to ensure that our work is aligned with our mission of advancing safe and patient-empowered sharing of health information for all.
Ethics & Equity
Provides a moral and justice-centered lens on redaction, access, and risk
Legal & Policy
Monitor legal requirements and regulatory developments to guides practical policy alignment
Patient Perspective
(in collaboration with OpenNotes)
Ensures that lived and living experience, trust, and transparency are central to all Shift solutions
Clinical Expertise
Anchors Shift’s work in real-world clinical practice and patient safety
External Collaborations
Granular data segmentation, patient privacy, and consent have long been labeled as “too hard” to solve; deferred for another day while easier priorities take the lead.
Years of fragmentation, limited resources, and a small pool of experts have slowed progress, despite the real and growing risks to patient trust and safety. At Shift, we believe that these challenges are not only solvable, but essential to solve.
But we also know that we can’t, and shouldn’t, do it alone.
That’s why Shift is committed to working alongside others who share our vision for equitable data sharing. Instead of duplicating efforts, we build on existing work, bring our specialized expertise to where it's most needed, and align complementary initiatives to create more sustainable and scalable progress.
Our collaborations help extend the impact of everyone’s work.
Together with standards organizations, advocacy groups, funders, and implementation networks, we’re accelerating the shift from pilot projects and policy debates to real, functioning solutions that serve patients.
Supporting CA DxF Implementer Consent Workflows
Civitas for Health
Partnering on Grant-Funded Privacy and Consent Work
Advancing Social Drivers for Health Use Case
Collaborating on Value Sets and Terminology Infrastructure
Co-leading Shift Patient Perspectives Advisory Group
Computable Consent Whitepaper and Interoperability Matters
Technical Contributors
Shift is grateful to the technical contributors who have supported our mission by participating in demonstrations, contributing engineering time, and advancing the development of our sandbox environments. Their expertise and generosity are helping us transform real-world use cases into functional, standards-based implementations.
While Shift is an independent, mission-driven organization and does not endorse specific products or vendors, we sincerely thank these collaborators for their willingness to share their tools, insights, and time in service of patient-centered privacy innovation and equitable interoperability.
HIMSS Interoperability Showcase Demonstration
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