Health Level Seven International is a non-profit organization (NPO) founded in 1987 also known as Health Level Seven (HL7). Its objective is to provide a standard framework for the exchange, integration, sharing and retrieval of electronic health information. HL7 creates regulations to support clinical practice and the management, delivery and analysis of healthcare services. Moreover, this standards organization has the American National Standards Institute accreditation.
Over 1,600 members from more than 50 countries support the organization. In addition, over 500 companies are members. These companies include healthcare providers, beneficiaries and pharmaceutical companies. They also represent governments, consulting firms, vendors and suppliers.
The key targets of the Health Level 7 standards
Health Level 7 is a set of international standards designed to promote common standards and guidelines. HL7 creates standards for the exchange of medical information between different IT systems used in the healthcare sector. HL7 wishes to enable fluid and secure communication of medical data and clinical documents between public health databases. The goal being to facilitate communication and data exchange between the various players in the healthcare sector.
The key targets of HL7 include hospitals, clinics, laboratories and doctors. HL7 standards also apply to electronic medical record management systems. The same applies to health insurance companies and other health-related entities.
The goal of Health Level 7
Health Level 7 offers a solution that gives everyone secure access to the right medical data. HL7 ensures this type of clinical data can be used when and where it is needed, without difficulty.
HL7 helps to improve patients’ quality of life by providing easy access to medical information in an efficient and secure way. This leads to better patient care coordination, fewer medical errors and improved quality of care. HL7 makes it possible to keep track of a patient’s health information throughout his or her care journey.
In addition, HL7 provides guidelines to define the structure and format of messages exchanged between healthcare systems. These communications receive special attention, as they contain sensitive patient information. They may contain information on appointments, laboratory results, prescriptions, medical history and more. Which is why we tend to send HL7 messages using HL7 protocols, such as the Internet Protocol suite (TCP/IP).
The impact of Health Level 7 on message coding
We use the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model to describe how different computer systems communicate with each other. The OSI model has several layers. For example, the fourth layer is the transport layer and seventh is the application layer. Hence, the reason why the number 7 is in HL7 is to refer to the seventh layer of the OSI model.
Moreover, the Health Level 7 standards define the coding norms for sensitive health data. It guarantees a consistent interpretation of information across various IT systems.
Opting for a management system that integrates with Health Level 7
The overall goal of Health Level 7 is to make it easier for different healthcare systems to work together. It succeeds in doing so by enabling medical information to flow smoothly and securely between different healthcare applications and platforms. This is why companies in both the public and private sectors should choose software capable of integrating with HL7.
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