Interfacing Insights for Hospitals
Supporting Each Stage of an HL7 Project with the Right Approach
Hospital interface projects can be challenging and rewarding. Projects are challenging due to the flexibility of the HL7 standard and the need to work with multiple parties, but they are rewarding when all clinical applications are exchanging data effectively. The end result is streamlined processing of clinical data through a hospital’s application environment (see illustration below).
Interoperability becomes one of the key objectives for a hospital. Connecting the healthcare can improve the experience of multiple constituencies. For example:
- The patient experience is enhanced with faster processing and communications of key clinical information while accuracy in the communication of required tests and results is ensured through software tools.
- The hospital experience is enhanced through more efficient operations both internally and externally – reduced cycle time in communicating patient data between systems and decreased costs through automation and elimination of constant data reentry.
- The experience of a hospital’s key partners – physicians, clinics, imaging centers, and labs – is enhanced through a more effective means to receive patient orders and deliver patient results.
Consequently, an HL7 interoperability initiative is an important endeavor which benefits all entities within a hospital network. Pursuing the project in a well-planned manner and ensuring the selected interface solution supports each project stage are critical.
Stages of an HL7 Interfacing Project
To achieve the best result in an HL7 interface initiative, there are several stages an interfacing project will undergo.Healthcare Interfacing Project Stages:
Outlined below are key points in each stage of interface development and support.
| Stage | Key Points |
| Developing HL7 interfaces | Undertake a business analysis and departmental workflow review for the hospital environment
Review specifications and analyze gaps between application data support and the specifications Define each hospital application’s data requirements |
Testing HL7 interfaces |
Collect message samples for interface unit testing Check the sample messages for validation and conformance to the selected version of the HL7 standard and required customizations made before implementing Unit test message translations Test the protocol connection to ensure the HL7 message can be delivered effectively Send defined messages to the destination application to ensure acknowledgement processing Execute a system test of the interface |
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To read a complete version of Interfacing Insights for Hospitals, follow the PDF link below.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| HL7-Project-with-the-Right-Solution-Hospitals.pdf | 97.37 KB |