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We covered many details about interfacing architecture and data exchange in Chapter 2. All that said, your main challenges are not with the plumbing, or with the methods used to transport or route data. In fact, interface and integration engines handle this quite well.

Interface Engines Don’t Address The Real Issue

The real issue is with data formats, workflows, and meaning – and interface and integration engines don’t address these problems. It’s quite common for two or more departments (and by extension, [...]

In Chapter 1 of the HL7® Survival Guide, we covered what it takes to exchange data. To help you make the most suitable choice among interfacing approaches, we’ve laid out the pros and cons of each approach or set of capabilities.

Advantages

Trade-Offs

Point-to-Point

Get up and running quickly if you have a few systems only.
Small system volume makes it easier to work with
Works well and is cost-effective for fewer than five healthcare information/clinical systems as infrastructure investment in minimal and complexity is reduced.
Easier [...]

Regardless of the HL7® version you choose to for interfacing, the first step is to define your healthcare integration strategy – will you use a point-to-point architecture? Do you need an interface engine? What integration capabilities do you need? Your choice will impact the scoping of your project, so it’s critical to nail down your strategy from the get-go. The key takeaway? Integrating several systems will require more extensive mapping and configuration than simple point-to-point architectures.

Interfaces Enable Data Exchange – [...]

HL7® interfacing – you can’t live without it but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer as you work to connect the systems that make your environment hum along. This guide will help you get a firm grasp on all the challenges, standards, and choices you need to make along the way, whether you’re developing interfaces on your own or working with a third party.

Why You Need the HL7® Survival Guide

Whether you’re an analyst or manager in a hospital or [...]

Been working in the HL7 integration trenches and solving tough problems?

Have a great tip for HL7 analysts and other members of the healthcare integration community?

Now’s your chance to share.

We’re working on putting together a new reference guide called The HL7 Survival Guide, for healthcare integration analysts and developers.

Why an HL7 Survival Guide?

There is great documentation from HL7 International and solid training available for new HL7 analysts and developers. But once you’ve got the basics under your belt, where do you [...]

Definition

Interface Black Box Syndrome is characterized by lack of visibility into the critical details that can hurt an interface. It can affect any hospital IT leader who is responsible for interfacing, but the most susceptible are dependent on 3rd parties and/or consultants. Fortunately, Interface Black Box Syndrome is treatable, and there are ways to reduce the risk that the syndrome will recur.

Symptoms

The signs and symptoms are almost always chronic and sub-acute. But they can explode into a world of expensive [...]

Over the years, most hospital IT teams have developed their own HL7 test messages and logs, which they use over and over again for system testing and interface validation. These logs may not be 100% accurate for the task at hand but hey, they’re good enough, right?

Not really.

“Good-enough” logs don’t contain the latest lab codes. “Good-enough” logs with just 10 or 20 or even 50 patients don’t contain the volume you need for load and performance testing. “Good-enough” logs miss [...]

Implementing or upgrading HIT systems and applications doesn’t mean much these days if they remain data islands unto themselves. Interfacing is the key to connectivity. But far too many teams rely on the drawn-out iterative processes of trial and error to get their interfaces created and tested. With interface counts reaching into the hundreds per hospital, your organization must find a way to get leaner and do more with less.

We’re sponsoring an educationally focused webinar where you’ll hear from CIOs [...]

Here are some of the most common issues I’ve come across when speaking with newly appointed hospital IT leaders faced with interfacing and integration issues.

1. I have hundreds of HL7 interfaces already (I think), and I am being asked to clean house. Where do I start? Start by inventorying your interfaces. Get a sense of how many interfaces are out there and document the systems they connect.

2. Are my interface consultants providing me with all documentation I am entitled to? [...]