OtoAccess®

HL7, also known as Health Level 7, is a messaging framework for transferring clinical and administrative data between healthcare entities. An example could be transferring data between a software solution from Interacoustics to an electronic health record (EHR) system. HL7 integration is what allows the software solution and the EHR system in the example above to interface with each other.

The HL7 framework and HL7 integration enable different healthcare system and solution providers to exchange clinical data in a structured format, allowing for otherwise unsecure and labor-intensive processes to be automated. Not only does this make data handling efficient for the clinician, it enables a less variable medical care across healthcare providers, as all clinical data is readily available.

Without integration, you will most likely spend a lot of time on manual administrative tasks. For example, if your software solution and electronic health record (EHR) system do not interface, you would have to perform a few manual steps to transfer data from one to the other. Speaking with clinicians worldwide, this includes printouts, exports, scanning and so forth. These are all time-consuming efforts. Integrating your systems eliminates the need for these manual administrative tasks, which are not central to the healthcare you provide.

When your systems or solutions ‘interface’, they can interact or communicate with each other. If you are a healthcare professional, especially at larger clinics or hospitals, you probably use several systems on a day-to-day basis. Ideally, they should interface with each other when each system receives new information or when you wish to retrieve any information.

An electronic medical record (EMR) is narrower than an electronic health record (EHR). An EMR focuses on a patient’s medical history while an EHR adopts a broader perspective of the patient’s health in general.

Electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs) both serve the purpose of improving the healthcare provided to the patient. Especially when they are integrated, EMRs and EHRs are powerful tools to improve patient management and to reduce treatment errors or any unnecessary treatment.

To answer this question, we will use OtoAccess® Worklist HL7 to exemplify an HL7 order-based workflow. In this example, the HL7 order-based workflow would look as follows:

1. An EMR or EHR system sends an order (ORM) message to OtoAccess® Worklist HL7. The ORM message will typically contain patient demographics, appointment information and the required test(s).
2. OtoAccess® Worklist HL7 makes the patient available for testing.
3. After testing, OtoAccess® Worklist HL7 sends a result (ORU) message to the EMR or EHR system. The ORU message will typically contain the test report.

HL7 version 2.x is the most widely used messaging standard for exchanging clinical data. HL7 version 3 is a more comprehensive standard but is not widely adopted. The HL7 FHIR standard is expected to become widely adopted during the coming years due to its superior and modern architecture.

An application programming interface (API) provides a unified manner to process data. This allows software applications to exchange data. REST is an architectural style, which determines how data is presented to a client in a way that is efficient for the client. Finally, a RESTful API utilizes HTTP requests to send, extract and delete data.