UCUM Committee Charter

Charter Purpose

The UCUM Committee charter documents the roles and operations of the Committee.

Committee Purpose

The purpose of the UCUM Committee is to publish, maintain, and promote the Unified Code for Units of Measure.

Committee Scope

UCUM is a code system intended to include all units of measures being contemporarily used in healthcare, science, engineering, and business expressing units of measure in digital artifacts. The UCUM Committee governs the specification for the UCUM code system.

Committee Functions

The Committee will:

• Receive and review requests for new and updated UCUM codes.

• Ensure that the UCUM specification remains complete and accurate.

• Collaborate with LOINC committees to:

  • Identify issues requiring input from LOINC committees and coordinate discussion and resolution of these issues.

  • Respond to coordination requests from LOINC committees.

  • Participate in routine and ad hoc cross-committee meetings.

• Support activities to ensure representative and sufficient committee membership:

  • Assess membership needs, e.g., stakeholder representation, expertise.

  • Recruit new members.

  • Assess member participation and determine if current members should be retired.

  • Communicate membership decisions.

Regenstrief Health Data Standards (HDS) staff will support the Committee in carrying out these functions.

Committee Membership

This charter describes the criteria and processes for Committee membership. All Committee members must be LOINC members or be affiliated with an organization that is a LOINC member. Information on LOINC membership can be found on the LOINC website.

Committee Membership Criteria

The Committee will establish criteria for Committee membership. Membership criteria will include:

• Expertise in a relevant subject matter of units of measures

• An understanding of the technical subject matter to be able to

  • adjudicate changes and

  • explain the technical reasoning behind changes.

• Willingness to participate and learn.

• Have been and continue to be supportive of UCUM

• Willingness to promote and not undermine UCUM when being involved in a competing activity.

• Be a registered user of the UCUM website.

• Other criteria as determined by the Committee.

Member Recruitment Process

The Committee will conduct an annual review of Committee membership to identify gaps in areas of expertise that should be represented on the Committee. The UCUM Committee will identify candidates to join the Committee. This may be done based on Committee member recommendations or through an announcement and application process coordinated by Regenstrief HDS staff.

The Committee Chair, Committee members, or HDS staff will reach out to member candidates to determine their interest in participating on the UCUM Committee.

Member Selection

The Committee will use the following process to select members:

• Membership candidates will be reviewed by the Chair(s).

• Candidates will be asked to participate in up to 3 Committee meetings as a pre-requisite for considering their application.

• Chair(s) will make a recommendation to the Committee on the candidate(s).

• Final approval of new members will be by a simple majority vote of the Committee.

Member Termination

The Committee will use the following process to terminate members:

• The term length for Members is three years, which automatically renews as long as the conditions for Membership continue to be met. The UCUM Committee benefits from the wisdom and experience of long-term participants, and thus we want to encourage sustained contributions.

• Members may terminate their membership in the UCUM Committee at any time by notifying the HDS staff of their intent to do so.

• Members may be terminated for failure to attend Committee meetings, failure to engage in respectful and constructive discussions, consistently poor preparation for meeting discussions.

• The Committee will conduct an annual membership review to determine if any membership terminations should be considered.

• Committee members may bring to the Chair/Co-Chairs requests to terminate members.

• Before terminating a member, the Committee Chair/Co-Chairs will reach out to the member to determine their continued interest in participating in the Committee, ability to meet member obligations, and willingness to address any issues with their Committee participation.

• The Regenstrief Institute may terminate the membership of any member upon determining that the member has acted in violation of the mission of the UCUM Committee, Rules of Behavior, or the UCUM License.

Committee Chair(s) Selection

Appointment of the Chair(s) is made by the designated authority at the Regenstrief Institute.

The HDS Staff will announce a call for nominations for the Committee Chair(s). Nominees shall be drawn from active Committee members at the time of the announcement. If appropriate candidates are not available within the active membership, the pool of candidate nominees may be expanded.

Committee Roles and Responsibilities

Committee Chairs/Co-Chairs

The term length for Committee Chairs is three years, which automatically renews.

Committee Chairs/Co-Chairs have the following responsibilities:

• Provide leadership in Committee meetings.

• Ensure that meetings are productive, and discussions are respectful.

• Collaborate with HDS staff in planning meetings.

• Coordinate with Chairs/Co-Chairs of LOINC Committees on common issues requiring coordination across committees.

• Act as ambassadors to other groups they participate in by:

  • Educating these groups on UCUM and LOINC work and processes.

  • Identifying and encouraging opportunities for collaboration between UCUM and/or LOINC and these groups.

  • Sharing relevant information about the work of these groups with the Committee and HDS staff.

Committee Members

The duties of a member of the UCUM Committee are to engage in the decision-making processes for governance of the UCUM specification. Committee members should:

• Demonstrate a commitment to the Committee by attending committee meetings, contributing to Committee discussions, reviewing and commenting on Committee materials.

• Maintain a respectful and constructive approach to Committee discussions.

• Ensure that their membership information on file with the HDS Staff is accurate.

Ex-Officio and Honorary Committee Members

The Committee has:

• One ex-officio member who is a member of the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., which is the Copyright holder of UCUM.

• The Founders, Gunther Schadow and Clem McDonald, are honorary members of the Committee until their resignation and have the same voting privileges as other voting members.

Committee Guests

The Committee may invite individuals with specific expertise to join one or more committee meetings to participate in discussions of topics related to their expertise. If the Committee requires the guest’s expertise on an ongoing basis the guest should be invited to become a Committee member, or another expert should be recruited to the Committee.

HDS Staff

HDS staff have the following responsibilities in support of the Committee:

• Coordinate with Chair/Co-Chairs to plan meetings, identify priorities, and follow-up on action items.

• Prepare analyses to support Committee discussion and decision-making.

• Prepare and distribute communications to Committee members.

• Prepare and maintain documentation of Committee meetings and analyses.

Committee Meetings

Committee Meeting Schedules

It is in the nature of the field of Units of Measure that it is very stable and maintenance activity may be very low. The schedule of Committee meetings will be determined by the volume of requests for new or updated UCUM codes.

Committee Agendas

Committee agenda development and distribution will use the following processes:

• The Committee Chair/Co-Chair will collaborate with HDS staff to prepare agendas prior to Committee meetings.

• Agendas and supporting materials will be distributed to Committee members at least 1 week prior to Committee meetings.

• Committee agendas and supporting materials will be posted to a repository accessible to all Committee members.

Meeting Minutes

Committee minutes development and distribution will use the following processes:

• HDS staff will prepare meeting minutes and distribute them one week after each meeting.

• Minutes of the prior meeting will be approved by the Committee at each meeting.

• Minutes will be posted to a repository accessible to all Committee members.

Committee Decision Making Processes

The Committee will drive to a consensus decision whenever possible. Consensus is not unanimity, but rather means that:

• All Committee voting members have had the opportunity to express themselves and lay out their positions in a collegial and collaborative environment.

• All Committee voting members can support the decision, even if they prefer an alternative.

• A quorum of 50% of Committee members is present at the meeting.

The Committee will adopt the following procedures when a consensus decision cannot be reached, or a quorum is not present at the meeting:

• A fifty percent majority of the voting members of the Committee will be required for decisions not arrived at by consensus. If all voting members are not in attendance at the meeting, absent members will be asked to register their vote by email.

For decisions on action items and significant Committee decisions, e.g., decisions that have major impacts on organization, processes, content domains, or significant changes to modeling approaches, the Committee should follow Roberts Rules of Order to guide discussion and voting.

Voting

• When formal votes are taken the outcome of the vote will be recorded. Documentation of formal votes will be maintained and posted to a repository accessible to all Committee members.

• Proxy voting will not be permitted.

Committee Annual Evaluation

Once each year the Committee will conduct an evaluation of its work. The results of the evaluation will be shared with LOINC committee Co-Chairs to support discussions of overall improvements to committee functions and processes.