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How does the HL7 standard change the rules of the game for medical data exchange?
In the digital age, the medical industry is facing huge challenges in data exchange. How to efficiently and securely transmit patient information between different systems has become the primary consideration for medical managers and related technical experts. That’s where HL7 comes in, providing a set of global standards to help improve patient health outcomes and healthcare system efficiency.
The HL7 standard focuses on the application layer, which is the seventh layer in the open systems interconnection model and supports the exchange of various clinical and administrative data.
With the increasing collaboration between different healthcare systems, the role of HL7 becomes increasingly important. Systems used by various medical units or institutions, including patient management, systems for drug management and medical records, all need to exchange information with each other. The HL7 International Organization has therefore developed some flexible standards, guidelines and methods that can promote interoperability between medical systems.
This means that clinical and non-clinical data can be shared more easily, theoretically improving patient care and healthcare system performance.
Main standards of HL7
HL7 has several major standards, most of which are generally accepted by the industry. These include:
- Version 2.x Message Standard – Interoperable specification for health and medical transactions.
- Version 3 messaging standard – an interoperable specification that supports all healthcare workflows.
- Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) – An interchange model for clinical documents.
- Continuing Care Documentation (CCD) – US standard for the exchange of medical summaries based on CDA.
- Structured Product Label (SPL) – published information that accompanies a medicine.
Specifically, HL7 version 2.x, which was primarily aimed at assisting hospital workflows, was first created in 1989. It has been updated several times since then and is backwards compatible, which means that messages created based on earlier versions can be understood by newer versions of the system.
The HL7 v2.x messaging standard is currently supported by every major healthcare information technology vendor in the United States.
Development of HL7 Version 3
Compared to version 2, HL7 version 3 is designed to support the operation of all medical workflows. Its development began in 1995 and the initial standard was published in 2005. HL7 v3 was developed based on formal methodology and object-oriented principles.
The core of HL7 Version 3 is the Reference Information Model (RIM), which is an important part of the HL7 V3 development process.
HL7 standards not only promote data integration between different medical systems, but also improve the medical industry's responsiveness to patient care in the face of technological changes.
The rise of FHIRAmong HL7's many standards, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a modern interoperability specification designed to be easier to implement than HL7 versions 2.x or 3.x. It uses modern network technology to exchange data through HTTP REST-based protocol and supports JSON or XML format, making data sharing more intuitive and flexible.
The main purpose of FHIR is to ensure interoperability between different computer systems, regardless of how those systems store data.
Currently, the implementation of FHIR is gradually increasing in medical institutions around the world, which not only provides a convenient way to exchange data, but also reflects the ability of modern medicine to respond quickly to patient needs.
End
As the HL7 standard continues to evolve, the way medical data is communicated becomes more efficient and flexible, allowing medical institutions to improve patient care while using their resources more effectively. In the future, as these standards continue to be upgraded and improved, what kind of changes will the medical industry face?
