I found it here: How does HL7 work?

Before I got started, I thought that I’d do a little research.  Firstly, when it comes to making an HL7 Interface – the most sensable and affordable method is to use of the the existing HL7 interface eninges.  So, I thought that maybe I’d make a tutorial or demo that would show how you can go about learning these tools and figuring out how to make your own hl7 interface.

Well, the problem is, I went to one of the bigger HL7 Integration Egines – Interfaceware - and found that not only have they now create a corporate blog – http://blog.interfaceware.com – but it’s actually pretty good.  They seem like their going to devote a lot time and resources in to their HL7 blog, and frankly I like the guy who’s been writing them.

After first I thought – ok, I can compete with this.  Then, I went through a few more blog post and realized that they also beet me on the whole HL7 Tutorial side of thigs as well.

So, now I’m not sure what I’m going to do.  Do I keep blogging about the fundimentals?  Do I approach them and see if maybe I could do some guest blogging?

I’m really not sure.  They didn’t steal my idea or my content – but they can certainly cover my neiche with more force than I ever could.  Oh well, hopefully they’ll back away from blogging in the near future and I’ll be able to swoop back in and take over.

When it comes to HL7 – Health Level 7 – many people get confused about whether HL7 stands for the governing body or about the HL7 standard itself.  The truth of the matter is that HL7 can really mean both.  In general, I’ve found that most people use the full term, Health Level 7, to refer to the HL7 organization as a whole – and use HL7 when referring to the standard or protocol.

So who is the HL7 Organization (or Health Level 7 organization if we’re trying to be wordy).

Well, the HL7 organization is the group of people – and companies – that come together through annual meetings and working groups to put forward the changes and direction of the standard.  When most think of the HL7 organization, they are probably thinking about the USA based Health Level 7 group.  While this does seem to be the main arm of the organization, there are also local chapters of the HL7 organization, like HL7 Canada, HL7 Australia and so on.

From what I can tell, it seems like most of these organizations still refer back to the USA based HL7 organization – but they are responsible for local based training and certification.  The HL7 organization - whether USA or abroad – doesn’t just meet to build new fields and sub-fields for the standard, they are also the body that conducts education summits and certification courses.  While I’ve been working in the HL7 world for several years now, I’ve not yet personally attended one of these sessions.  I was recently looking on their website and noticed they are running another educational summit this spring in Las Vegas, so for the first time I’m thinking about taking their prep course and test – to become HL7 certified.  I don’t know how many vendors or healthcare operations actually care about HL7 certification, but I think it would be a great excuse to visit Vegas and see exactly what goes on during the HL7 organizational meetings.

Anyway, I hope that clears up – at least a little bit – the difference between the Health Level 7 Organization and the HL7 standard.  My suggestion would be that you visit the USA based organization’s website or maybe your local affiliate and read what they have to say.

We’ve gathered a great team of HL7 experts, industry professionals and bloggers and we’re here today to officially kick off our Health Level 7 blog.

HL7 is such a powerful and growing protocol and many of us see that it’s really going to become even more important to the healthcare industry as time goes by – so we’ve decided to sit down, organize ourselves and bring you breaking news, reviews of the latest HL7 tools, interfacing examples, sample HL7 messages and more!

We want to become the go-to location for HL7 training material and maybe eventual start to offer some form of HL7 certification prep/exam work.

If you’re new to HL7 – that’s no problem.  As we start going through our collective brains, we plan on laying our everything we know about HL7 from the most basic introduction to the most complex OBX segment examples we can think of.

So, if you’ve come looking for information about the Health Level 7 organization as a whole or about HL7 in general, you’ve found the right – and best – location!

So sit back, kick off your shoes and starting reading everything HL7 related at THE (somewhat) official Health Level 7 blog.