NeoTool — Singular Focus, Healthcare Integrated

Posted in Healthcare Integration, HL7 Messaging, HL7 Standards

A healthcare environment typically has multiple systems that need to be interfaced. From the HIS to the RIS to the LIS, these systems all need to be able to exchange data via HL7 messaging. While most of these systems today have an HL7 interface, these interfaces are not compatible out of the box. There is no plug-and-play interfacing in the world of healthcare integration today.

When one of these systems needs to send data to another, there usually will need to be some modifications to the message structure that is sent. This is because these applications all speak a ‘custom’ version of the HL7 standards. In order to successfully interface the applications, one of two things has to happen.

1. One or both vendors will need to make customizations to their applications and/or their interfaces to be able to send and receive the other vendor’s custom version of HL7. This is a point-to-point approach to interfacing.
2. Another approach is to take the data that is coming from an application, modify the data in an interface engine, and then send the resulting message structure to the receiving application in their custom version of HL7. With this approach, no modifications are required by the applications.

In either case, outlined below are the requirements in three key categories: must have, should have, and nice to have.

Must have:

• An export from the sending application
• A method for moving data
• An import into the receiving application

Should have:

• A method to queue messages
• A method for logging messages

Nice to have:

• Resend capability
• Monitoring and alerting

Additional resources:

• Read include a white paper entitled What Is Your Healthcare Interface Method?
• Watch a 15-minute recorded webinar on Point-to-Point Interfaces vs. Interface Engine – What Do You Really Get with Each?

Last 5 posts by Mike Stockemer

• Comparing HL7 Messages to HL7 Documents - January 25th, 2008
• Monitoring and Alerting for HL7 Interfaces - October 22nd, 2007
• Variations of the HL7 ORU^R01 Message Format - September 10th, 2007
• Point-to-Point Interface vs. Interface Engine in Healthcare - August 23rd, 2007
• Getting Started with Your HL7 Interface - August 16th, 2007