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 system, but here are three reasons why that’s a big mistake:
- If you forget to cancel or delete all test transactions once you’re through with testing, you’ll end up with faulty transactions in your production systems.
- You run the risk of impacting ePHI or HIPAA-protected health data.
- You don’t want phantom data turning up in a CMS audit. Your clinical systems contain data that constitute a legal record.
So what’s the right way to go about it? Set up your test system using the same configuration as your production system, including the same rights and versions (it’s OK if IP addresses are different). Make sure you upload enough patient data, and that your tests cover your requirements (we can’t say that often enough).
Learn more about test automation
Want to see how Caristix technology automates testing? Check out this 2-minute excerpt on interface testing and validation from our on-demand demo. See how to prevent costly project rework and delays.
http://youtu.be/J7D1I41zRnY
Image credit: r.nial bradshaw