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HL7 Interfacing

The iEHR platform provides a powerful and highly customizable HL7 interfacing engine, designed as a robust alternative to solutions like Mirth or Corepoint. This engine enables developers to produce and consume HL7 feeds from a wide range of legacy healthcare applications, such as EHRs, LIS, RIS/PACS, billing systems, and more.

Overview​

HL7 feeds are continuous streams of electronic health data exchanged between healthcare systems following the Health Level Seven (HL7) standards. These feeds are critical for facilitating the real-time exchange of both clinical and administrative data, including:

  • Patient demographics
  • Laboratory results
  • Billing information
  • Treatment and care records

HL7 interfaces are prevalent across the healthcare landscape and are widely supported by legacy systems such as EHR platforms, RIS/PACS systems, lab instruments, and more, ensuring efficient interoperability.

Common HL7 Feeds​

Some of the most frequently encountered HL7 feeds include:

  • Admission, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) Feeds: Handle patient movements across healthcare facilities, tracking admissions, discharges, and transfers.
  • Observation/Results (OBX) Feeds: Deliver diagnostic results from laboratories and imaging systems.
  • Scheduling Information Unsolicited (SIU) Feeds: Manage and share scheduling data, streamlining operational workflows.

Consuming HL7 Feeds​

The iEHR platform can consume incoming HL7 feeds, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Identity Management (ADT): Verify the existence of patient demographic records and create new entries when necessary.
  • Diagnostic Results (ORU): Integrate lab test results into the datastore for seamless access and analysis.
  • Schedule-Driven Workflow (SIU): Trigger onboarding prompts for patients with newly scheduled appointments.

Publishing HL7 Feeds​

iEHR also supports publishing HL7 feeds, which can be leveraged for various purposes:

  • Discharge Notifications (ADT): Generate events upon patient discharge for downstream system consumption.
  • Diagnostic Orders (ORM): Place lab test orders to ensure efficient test processing.
  • Schedule Display (SIU): Share scheduling events with external organizations for improved coordination.

Connecting to Legacy Systems​

The HL7 V2 messaging format, introduced in 1987, was developed prior to the advent of modern encryption protocols like HTTPS. As such, it lacks native encryption. To address this challenge, the iEHR platform supports multiple methods for securely capturing HL7 messages at the edge:

  • iEHR Agent: Deployed within the local network to act as a bi-directional bridge, ensuring secure communication between applications.
  • File-Based HL7 Integrations: Enable secure data exchange via SFTP, where HL7 messages are processed as files and parsed by iEHR bots.
  • HL7 Aggregators: Collect and manage HL7 messages from diverse sources, consolidating data for streamlined processing.

For more detailed information or to explore how iEHR can enhance your healthcare system's integration capabilities, feel free to contact us.