What Is the HL7 Standard?
October 5th, 2006 by NeoTool
(13 votes, average: 4.62 out of 5)
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What is HL7? HL7 is a Standards Developing Organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute to author consensus-based standards representing a broad view from healthcare system stakeholders. What this definition means from a practical standpoint is that HL7 has compiled a collection of message formats and related clinical standards that loosely define an ideal presentation of clinical information, and together the standards provide a framework in which data may be exchanged.
The HL7 standard is often called the “non-standard standard.” While not entirely fair, it does reflect the fact that almost every hospital, clinic, imaging center, lab, and care facility is “special” and, therefore, there is no such thing as a standard business or clinical model for interacting with patients, clinical data, or related personnel.
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[…] The primary business goal behind interfacing to physician EMR systems is to have a nimble and adjustable workflow, and to be flexible enough to accept and send multiple HL7 message formats. Doing so will enable you to meet almost any interfacing challenges you are faced with. […]
[…] Procedure code mapping is one of many code set mappings that may need to be completed in order to successfully interface a healthcare provider with an imaging center via HL7. […]
[…] When embarking into an implementation project, specifications can be a great resource of information. HL7 specifications for an interface project to exchange clinical data is no different. […]
[…] Z segments contain clinical or patient data that the HL7 Standard may not have defined in other areas. Essentially, it is the “catch all” for data that does not fit into the Standard message definitions. Z segments can be inserted in any message at any time, and Z segments can carry any data you want. In an HL7 message, all Z segments within it start with the letter “Z”. […]
[…] The point is that the HL7 standard is in many cases the most generic form of a clinical workflow and data model. In order for it to be usable in a real world environment, the applications involved make choices and the facility where those applications are installed further refine (and sometimes override) those choices. […]
[…] Implementation of cardinality may vary between different healthcare applications. One application may implement cardinality exactly as the standard says. For example, one may allow zero to infinite patient addresses. Another application, however, may require one patient address and only allow one. The second application is not HL7 compliant, but this is a common decision made by development teams to fit their application’s data structures or other requirements with the HL7 standard. […]
[…] To provide support TCP/IP connections utilized by HL7 standards. This should include MLP support, partial message handling, acknowledgement (ACK) message handling, and other protocols or custom communication needs. […]
[…] Scheduling Information Unsolicited (SIU) messages are used to communicate information about a patient’s appointment from the hospital scheduling system to a physician or clinic’s practice management system. SIU messages are a part of the HL7 Standard. […]
[…] You may have read about how HL7 relates to various healthcare IT initiatives like ELINCS, CCR, and HL7 CDA. You may also be aware of the sea-tide change among clinics and their EMR systems as they now are actively building integration solutions to exchange clinical information between various healthcare providers (e.g., hospitals, imaging centers, labs, etc.). […]
[…] The goal was to move on to the specific elements of HL7 such as messages, segments, fields and components, and explain how they all work together. As a non-technical person, I found that the information provided was more extensive than I anticipated and was prepared for. But for the more technical people in the class, the enthusiasm in their facial expressions and thoughtful questions showed they were thrilled about being in the class. […]
[…] Day three of HL7 training finished up the detailed technical explanations of HL7; however, I was relieved to find that my brain could take a respite as we moved on to real world applications of HL7 and how the technology is utilized. […]
[…] What has changed today is that many radiology practices and diagnostic imaging centers have begun to realize how the HL7 standard and interface engine solutions can take TAT to the next level. […]
[…] HL7 typically involves moving message data between two or more software applications within a clinical setting. Without a standard way of defining the types of data that can be sent, messaging is very difficult. Therefore, HL7 outlines the data model and workflows that are broadly supported. […]
[…] At a typical WGM, there are 350 to 500 attendees that volunteer their time to help push the HL7 standards forward. These attendees represent a mixture of healthcare software vendors and providers (clinics and hospitals). Prior to approximately 1998, the HL7 2.X messaging standard was very US-centric and had only been only influenced by internationalization help from Germany and The Netherlands. Since the early 2000s, HL7 has broadened membership to include many HL7 Affiliates outside the US. […]
[…] A phone call or face-to-face meeting where HL7 specifications are reviewed or exchanged. During this HL7 conference, there is a “meeting of the minds” with respect to the data elements and work flows that will be supported by the HL7 interface. […]
[…] Background: As you probably know, HL7 is a family of international standards that are endorsed by or used within many countries. The HL7 standards — be them older V2.X messaging, new 3.X messaging, CDA/CCR/CDA, etc — reflect input from many realms. This internationalization of HL7 has been on-going since the early 2000s. […]
[…] The HL7 message type, RDE (Pharmacy/Treatment Encoded Order Message), is used by clinical applications to send an order to the pharmacy and/or dispensing systems. It may be sent as either an order containing a single pharmacy/treatment order for a patient or as an order containing multiple pharmacy/treatment orders for a patient (e.g., 1 mg tablet of Aspirin, 0.5 mg 0.5% Albuterol). […]
[…] necessity to meet the demands of EMRs, EHRs, RHIOs, and other connected healthcare initiatives. The HL7 Standard plays a key role in these clinical data exchanges. If you are looking for an overview article on […]
[…] This week is the May HL7 Working Group Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. I’m looking forward to meeting up with the HL7 community and helping build the HL7 standard. […]
Hello,
Do you have any suggestions of a class or seminar that I would be able to view on-line for getting a basic understanding of Information Technology in healthcare…kind of an IT101.
Thank you.