HL7 INTEGRATION – AN OVERVIEW

Each of the systems – Radiology Information System (RIS), Lab Information System (LIS), Hospital Information System (HIS), Electronic Health Record (EHR), and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) communicate with each other in different languages. The increased number of healthcare applications and the necessity of centralized electronic health records drive the requirement for a universal language among the applications. To solve this issue, the HL7 protocol was introduced as the single, flexible, and universal standard of communication in 1987. This article summarizes the importance and steps involved in a successful HL7 integration.

Key Abbreviations

DESCRIPTION:

What is HL7?

HL7 is the universal user-friendly standard that enables the communication between two or more healthcare management applications. The health-related information will be transferred in the form of one or more HL7 messages such as patient records and billing information.The HL7 interoperability standard is often called the nonstandard standard since it does not consider any specific part as special. There is no standard business or clinical model for clinical interaction. HL7 development needs the involvement of clinical application analysts, integration specialists, application programmers, and system analysts.

What does HL7 stand for?

HL7 (Health Level Seven) symbolizes a 7-layer ISO communication model

1-4 deals with Communication; 5-7 deals with Function. All these layers are used by HL7 interface engine for transfer and retrieval of HL7 data.

HL7 Interoperability Standard versions

Why does healthcare need HL7?

A large number of healthcare providers, particularly specialists, are required to access multiple electronic systems to accurately diagnose a patient’s condition. This can become more complex and challenging if they provide services in outpatient clinics that are not integrated with the local hospital system. This is where Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) comes in, and HL7 interoperability standards, such as the messaging format HLv2, play their part. 

Every day, healthcare institutions employ a wide range of applications, including radiology, laboratory and patient administrative systems, MRI, and more. This data is regularly shared across many systems to ensure that healthcare systems function properly. Communication, particularly a secure and well-managed communication channel, becomes imperative in this scenario. Healthcare needs visibility over data in a secure manner, which these HL7 standards efficiently provide, making them significant to the healthcare industry. 

Common Challenges in HL7 Integration

 Here are some of the most common HL7 integration challenges you should know about:

Complex and Time-Consuming Process

HL7 software integration is a complex, time-consuming process that requires a dedicated project team of experts to ensure successful completion. As the pre-existing software is entangled in several applications, HL7 integration services can interfere with the normal functioning of other integrated software. This is why a dedicated project team is required for the successful setup of the HL7 integration solutions. The team works with specialists like Itech to ensure there are no unforeseen disruptions. Healthcare centers should be prepared in advance for the long implementation and integration phases.

Ambiguous Data Semantics Pose Risks in Healthcare

Different interpretations of abbreviated health messages across applications can lead to confusion among healthcare staff, potentially resulting in misinterpretations and adverse outcomes. For instance, the abbreviation “NA” in a patient record could mean “not applicable” or “no allergies” and can influence treatment decisions accordingly. If consistency is not maintained in semantic frameworks during integration, it can have profound implications for patient care, rendering data records unreliable.

EHR Transition Leads to Data Loss 

Transitioning to a new EHR can be a substantial hurdle for healthcare organizations in the current market. Certain providers manage multiple EHRs, requiring clinicians to access various platforms or resort to paper records. While some opt to migrate all existing data to the new EHR system, others decide against it. Furthermore, converting certain data types, like photos, may prove impractical, leading to potential errors in the converted data. Additionally, migration also includes technical costs, and the process can sometimes be excessively prolonged.

OBJECTIVES:

The vision of HL7 development is a world where everyone can securely access and use the right health data when and where they need it. In order to achieve that goal, the workflow should be simplified between healthcare management solutions and various vendors for the enhanced quality, accuracy, cost and efficiency of healthcare providers.

Benefits of Implementing HL7 in Healthcare

Implementing HL7 in healthcare offers several benefits that extend beyond an efficient exchange of data. Using the HL7 interface integration, healthcare professionals, including standalone medical facilities and larger health organizations, can focus on delivering excellent patient care, as their exchange of data processes is secure.

Let’s examine how HL7 standards integration benefits healthcare organizations:

Data Integration Across All Systems

HL7 standards integration enables seamless data exchange between different medical systems such as EMR (Electronic Medical Record), RIS (Radiology Information System), LIS (Laboratory Information System), which are available in most hospitals now. Without well-defined data standards, exchanging information would be a long and tiring process.

Enhanced Workflow Automation 

Workflow automation is another benefit of HL7 integration software. Adopting it can boost productivity and reduce errors in healthcare organizations. The time saved by automating tasks can be redirected towards critical tasks like patient care. With the help of the HL7 interface integration, healthcare professionals can optimize their core business processes and enhance overall performance and satisfaction. 

Streamlined Regulatory Compliance

Compliance with industry regulations is an important aspect of healthcare, and the HL7 Interface software helps simplify this process. By enabling healthcare providers to share data with regulators electronically, the HL7 Interface software ensures that organizations can easily meet public health reporting standards and maintain compliance. This simplified approach to regulatory compliance reduces the administrative burden on healthcare institutions, particularly medical organizations, and allows them to focus on delivering high-quality patient care.

Simplify medical billing and claims management

HL7 eases the medical billing and claims management process by providing a clear and concise representation of medical procedures and treatments, as well as standardized codes. This helps in simplifying the billing process and helps ensure claims are well-supported and accurate. Additionally, it also improves operational efficiency in the billing process and reduces the time and effort required to resolve any discrepancies or denied claims.

HEALTHCARE INTEGRATION SOLUTIONS

Healthcare Integration Solutions Overview:

Each healthcare application must be accessible to send and accept patient data. There are certain fixed rules of what to accept and send for easy exchange. This access is strictly controlled by each application vendor to ensure data integrity within their application.

Healthcare Integration Requirements

First In, First out (FIFO)

The exchange of clinical data must be in FIFO order. The first HL7 message received will also be the first HL7 message delivered.

Flexibility to Address Varying Requirements

Since HL7 is essentially a platform for negotiation, the interface solution must be flexible to deal with HL7 V2.3.1, V2.4, V2.5, etc. It should be able to send one message in varied versions to multiple applications.

External Application and Provider Integration

Real-world integration takes place between multiple applications in multiple locations. Healthcare interface traffic can be intense so a strong traffic director in the middle is extremely important. Else, the output will get delayed which might lead to costly implementations, application modifications, etc. Each application in the integration path should be able to send and/or receive data, ideally in an HL7 format.

Short Implementation Cycle

The workflow for interface configuration should be easy, logical and GUI driven. The developer does not have to be available to implement each application or site.

Scalable

The number of interfaces will grow over time. An interface solution must also be able to grow with the demands of the market.

Different Data Formats

In addition to HL7, the interface solution should be able to handle other clinical standards including the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA), Continuity of Care (CCR), and XML.

Ease of Interface Testing & Maintenance

Delivering quality interfaces is crucial. Hence, few testing functions such as conformance checking, message unit testing, and communication testing should be incorporated within the interface solution.

Ease of Monitoring & Management

To keep customer support costs low, interface implementations should be easy to monitor and resolution tools should be readily available to fix any upcoming error.

HIPAA & HL7 INTEGRATION PROTOCOLS

Data sharing between clinical and financial systems is always a challenging task, in terms of reliability, security and compliance. That is where exactly, the importance of HL7 and HIPAA arises.

HL7 exchanges clinical data between healthcare applications from different vendors. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was implemented in 1966 in order to update healthcare transactions and to uphold patients’ privacy rights.

HL7 will be triggered by events like patient admission and billing within the enterprise like hospitals. Whereas between enterprises like hospitals and insurance companies, HIPAA-enabled EDI-X12 transactions will be exchanged. HL7 is also used in certain HIPAA EDI-X12 transactions.

For instance, if a patient is admitted to a hospital, the Patient Administration System (PAS) maintains the details about that patient. If other systems like Pharmacy Systems need information about this patient, it sends an HL7 message about the patient to the proper hospital systems.

Later, when the hospital sends a claim for payment to another enterprise, like an insurance company, the hospital and the insurance company exchange HIPAA EDI-X12 messages. These HIPAA EDI-X12 messages may contain an embedded HL7 message about the patient.

INTEGRATION OPTIONS AVAILABLE

An enterprise such as hospital has got many HL7-enabled applications for HL7 hospital integration. To reduce data entry duration and increase overall efficiency of the facility, these applications should communicate with each other. An HL7 interface development includes:

There are two basic ways for effective communication:

Each provider should decide which option would be more productive and cost-effective for their organization. If the interfacing environment is limited and focused, then the point-to-point approach may work. If the interfacing requirements are growing internally to streamline workflow and externally to meet EMR requirements, then the interface engine approach would be better.

HL7 INTEGRATION PROCEDURE

Rather than implementing the recent phase of your HL7 integration, analyze your health system’s needs and build a customized interface solution that will meet your budget along with current and future needs. A strong interface team with a coordinated testing by subject matter experts can provide a successful outcome in HL7 implementation.

Step 1: Plan the interface

HL7 interfaces are required to support data integration. Properly integrated HL7 interfaces can reduce duplicate data entry and enhance user workflow due to application interoperability.
Common HL7 interfaces used within healthcare organizations are:

The below-mentioned flowchart shows the planning steps for the right interface.

In addition to this flow, the right staff members and consultants should be included for the project execution.

Identification of the right HL7 interface and their respective field content should be reviewed to avoid data irregularities. Especially, ADT workflows should be reviewed in terms of sending and receiving data.

Step 2: Build the Interface

Execution-

This is the project execution phase, where many steps are involved. First, interface engineers should complete application-side work efforts. They should define each port along with their respective content.

Interface build-

The specifications should be kept in mind before building the appropriate interface. Setting up the interface to handle the content and field locations for medical record numbers is included in this step.

Testing-

Connectivity testing should be performed at the interface-building stage before proceeding to the validation step. Connectivity testing is done to check whether HL7 data exchange passes successfully from source to destination without any network barrier.

Step 3: Test and Validate

The testing phase is another important phase of the HL7 integration. A proper review of the design, utilization, and content of these interfaces is the most important step for the successful completion. Unit and integrated testing involve the expertise of application subject matter experts. They are typically great at working with the technical items relevant to an interface.

HL7 Integration by Using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

Although HL7 standards are very useful for healthcare, traditional integration techniques are not sufficient to meet the needs of modern healthcare providers. As the industry keeps evolving with new technologies coming up, medical professionals now have to accept non-clinical applications. Mobile and SaaS applications have now become intertwined with the online medical industry, but they generally use data formats that are unfamiliar to most clinical systems. To easily connect these radically different message standards, HL7 API must be used to help scale these integrations.

HL7 API provides a standardized and public interface, enabling any approved application with the proper security authentication to send and receive data. This enables fast and efficient communication between multiple systems and third-party applications. Healthcare providers can also exchange patient health records with community care organizations and other third-party medical facilities in order to influence informed and well-researched medical choices. Another significant benefit is that APIs provide a wonderful opportunity for real-time interoperability by including methods for posting, updating, and retrieving complex data.

WHAT ROLE A TECH PERSON PLAYS?

CONCLUSION

Healthcare communications such as HL7 need security measures added for both existing and new installations. At present, various security measures such as encryption and SSH tunneling are used to secure HL7 data exchange. Healthcare needs to do more for data protection and that updation should take place soon.

Same way, each updated version of HL7 incorporates new features and options which complicate the standard one. With the emergence of new HIPAA guidelines, the best interface engine should allow multiple connections to both internal and external applications for easy data exchange. Hence, HL7 will continue to be a major component in healthcare evolution.

QUICK TAKEAWAY

HL7 Integration Options

HL7 Integration

Step 1: Plan the Interface

Step 2: Build the Interface

Step 3: Test Validate

References