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Tip 15 in the Interoperability Tip Series

Once you’ve developed a test plan and test scenarios, you need to configure your interface in a test environment.

Healthcare Data test vs. production

What do we mean by test environment? Essentially, another instance of your interface engine, along with simulations of the clinical systems you’ll be interfacing.

It’s important that you do your testing in a test environment, not in a production environment. It’s easy to think it can’t hurt to test in a live [...]

We get this question a lot. Over the past few years, we’ve come up with a few answers. Let’s bring this full circle into 3 simple bullet points:

A profile captures an interface specification. So profile = spec.
Some people use the terms profile, spec, and specification interchangeably.
Why build a profile? So that you save time building an interface and getting it into production.

Why build an HL7 profile?

The profile or spec also gives you interface documentation you can share with your team [...]

Tip 14 in the Interoperability Tip Series

In last week’s tip, we talked about capturing workflows.

Here’s why. Before you can conduct any  interface testing, you must understand what to expect of your workflows. This should include common workflows – such as a patient being transferred – involving the use of the products that will be interfaced.

For example, in many hospitals, emergency department and in-patient ADTs are two separate systems. A new patient that comes through the emergency department would be registered [...]

Testing and validation are important tasks, as we explained in the Interoperability Tip Series and the HL7 Survival Guide.

Shouldn’t interfacing be easy by now?

Testing is what takes the longest when you’re building an interface. So when you hear about interface engines that allow you to get an interface into production in a couple of hours, that’s absolutely true. Coding is quick with modern interface engines. But bear in mind that coding time seldom includes testing. We’ve worked with organizations that [...]

Tip 13 in the Interoperability Tip Series

Last week in Tip 12, we covered when, why, and what to test when you’re working with interfaces. This week, we’re looking at the different interface test types a team needs to perform.

Make sure that your tests cover your interoperability requirements. These will vary depending on the systems you’re working with. Be sure to also cover the following:

1. Workflow

Confirm the interface engine handles your standard workflows as expected.  Just as a reminder, workflows are [...]

Tip 12 in the Interoperability Tip Series

In tips from the past few weeks, we covered two requirements-related artifacts analysts must create: 1) profiles or specs and 2) gap analyses, which include mapping tables.

In this tip, we look at testing an interface. And see how it doesn’t have to be an exercise in frustration.

When to Test: 3 Phases

You need to perform healthcare interface testing at 3 different phases in the HL7 interface lifecycle: during configuration and development; during the formal validation [...]

9 Diagnostic Questions: Interfacing Management Maturity Model

Last week, we introduced a maturity model for interfacing management. We explained how organizations progress through 3 distinct stages: Manual, Message, and  System.

This week, we’ll cover key diagnostic questions. These 9 questions will help you determine which stage you’re in and whether you should consider moving to the next stage.

1. How many sample messages are you using when scoping?

This gives you an idea of which stage you’re at. A handful of messages and you’re [...]

Tip 11 in the Interoperability Tip Series

Last week, you learned about doing a gap analysis – mapping differences  between the systems you’re interfacing. Today, we’ll cover why you need this artifact.

1. Interface Requirements

No interface matters unless those coding the engine can accurately scope the interfaces they need to build. You need a way to communicate who does what on an interface. Is the vendor changing a field? Is the interface engine handling the field transformation? It’s critical that you pin [...]

It’s clear that the needs around interfacing and integration are exploding. To match that need, Caristix is introducing an interfacing management maturity model. If you’re reading this, you know that there is a lot of implementation expertise available from analysts, developers, and consultants. But at the organization level, capabilities vary. Many organizations are seeking benchmarks to see where and how they can grow and adapt to meet their needs. That’s where our model can help.

This interfacing management maturity model is [...]

Tip 10 in the Interoperability Tip Series

In the previous tip, we covered specifications. Another key requirements or scoping document you’ll need is a gap analysis. In this tip, we discuss how to develop an interface gap analysis document.

Many analysts develop their own gap analysis templates in Microsoft Word or Excel. To fill in templates, they look at messages, run queries when they can, and manually document their findings. This can be a fairly onerous process if they’re basing the analysis [...]