HL7 Messaging with Medical-Objects
The AS4700.2 standard is the one on which our HL7 is based it's freely available from the Standards Australia publisher SAI Global. The HL7.org documentation is useful, however you must be a member of HL7 Australia to access the standards, which is very inexpensive and it the best way to get hold of the standards. HL7 Australia
The following link will provide you the AS4700.x series of standards. Find the latest AS4700.2 and HB262 documents.
http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/results2.aspx?searchType=simple&publisher=AS&keyword=4700
HL72.3.1 International spec is available on the HL7 Australia website as a free download: http://www.hl7.org.au/HL7-V2-Resources.htm
Once you have developed your message, please test it against the www.ahml.com.au testing engine. This will advise you of certain violations. Contact AHML for help with using their service. The website is free, you just have to register an account.
If you are sending RTF it is also important to send a plain text version in FT (Formatted Text). Otherwise many systems that receive your message that do not have RTF capability will not be able to utilise your content. Providing the FT version also gives the receiving a choice.
For examples, of messages that our systems have generated which are compliant with the AHML.com.au testing engines please see:
http://download.medical-objects.com.au/trusted/index.html
Messages 9 & 29 are the type that you should look at as a template. (Please dont copy and paste it though. Look at each fields meaning from the specifications. I have seen developers copy and paste in the past to the point that the the MSH sending application field has our software version numbers in it, when it should have had theirs!)
You should provide a separate message for each recipient of a document.
MSH-Control ID should be unique for each message and never repeat in time.
PV1-9 XCN below shows where the addressee for an ORU^R01 message goes.
PV1|1|O||||||0191323F^MCINTYRE^ANDREW^K^^DR^^^AUSHICPR^L^^^UPIN|0191323F^MCINTYRE^ANDREW^K^^DR^^^AUSHICPR^L^^^UPIN|||||||N
The addressee is a the provider number that the recipient doctor has registered with our network.
For recipients without provider numbers. Medical-Objects allocate a Medical-Objects Routing Identifier, this should be qualified in the XCN Assigning Authority field.
PV1|1|O||||||JD455600041^DAVISON^JARED^^^Mr.^^^Medical-Objects&7C3E3682-91F6-11D2-8F2C-444553540000&GUID^L^^^UPIN|JD455600041^DAVISON^JARED^^^Mr.^^^Medical-Objects&7C3E3682-91F6-11D2-8F2C-444553540000&GUID^L^^^UPIN|||||||N
The XCN components of PV1-9 are:
<ID number (ST) = Medical-Objects Routing ID eg "JD455600041"> ^ <family name (ST) > & < last_name_prefix (ST)> ^ <given name (ST)>
^ <middle initial or name (ST)> ^ <suffix (e.g., JR or III) (ST)> ^ <prefix (e.g.,
DR) (ST)> ^ <degree (e.g., MD) (IS)> ^ <source table (IS)> ^ <assigning authority
(HD) = "Medical-Objects&7C3E3682-91F6-11D2-8F2C-444553540000&GUID"> ^ <name type code(ID) = "L"> ^ ^ ^ <identifier type code (IS)> ^ ^ < name representation code(ID)>
The Medical-Objects Routing ID is always 11 Digits long. And is made of of the following characters in the following format. AANNNNXXXXX (A: [A-Z], N: [0-9], X: [A-Z, 0-9]). There is a check digit scheme which the Medical-Objects software validates.
Typically the document author (sending provider) can be put into the OBR-32 Principle Result Interpreter field which is a CM datatype. Note that a CM datatype contains the XCN datatype in its first component so where above subcomponent ^ delimeters are used, now subcomponent & delimiters are used.
Components: <name (CN)> ^ <start date/time (TS)> ^ <end date/time (TS)> ^ <point of care (IS)> ^ <room (IS)> ^ <bed (IS)> ^ <facility (HD)> ^ <location status (IS)> ^ <patient loca- tion type (IS)> ^ <building (IS)> ^ <floor (IS)>
Subcomponents of name: <ID number (ST)> & <family name (ST)> & <given name (ST)> & <middle ini- tial or name (ST)> & <suffix (e.g., JR or III) (ST)> & <prefix (e.g., DR) (ST)> & <degree (e.g., MD (ST)> & <source table (IS)> & <assigning authority (HD)>
An example of OBR-32:
OBR||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||0191322W&MCINTYRE&ANDREW&&&Dr.&&&AUSHICPR
Note that the final <assigning authority (HD)> of OBR-32 is only "AUSHICPR" or "Medical-Objects" since the HL7 does not allow componen nesting depths deeper than subcomponent '&' delimiter.
The simplest way we generally set up message exchange is via message files on the file system. 1 message per file. Drop them in a directory. We can also provide you with acknowledgements so that you can determine in your software how far the message has gone through the network. eg. is it waiting to route, on the hard disk at the other end waiting for an application to process, or it has been imported into the system successfully.
Once you have prepared your message, please use the AHML testing system to verify your message against the relevant profiles. Visit http://www.ahml.com.au/. The use of this site is free, you just need to register an account. Also download and use our HL7 Lint testing tool on your example messages. HL7 Lint will check for common mistakes and ensure items necessary for transmission on the Medical-Objects network are populated properly.
