Mayo Foundation Electronic Results Inquiry, the HL7 connection

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Information Systems
• Clinical Data Management

Background:

• Timely access to patient data is essential for effective inpatient and outpatient care.
• Ancillary systems like Laboratory, Microbiology, and ECG generate critical test result information.
• Integrating data from disparate systems poses significant challenges in healthcare settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To pilot an Electronic Results Inquiry System (ERIS) for centralizing patient test results.
• To evaluate the use of Health Level 7 (HL7) interfaces for system integration.
• To emphasize the implementation of HL7 for Electrocardiogram (ECG) results and client query interfaces.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of the Electronic Results Inquiry System (ERIS) at Mayo Foundation.
• Utilization of the Phamis Lastword database for data aggregation.
• Adoption of Health Level 7 (HL7) specification version 2.1 for system communications, excluding workstation interfaces.

Main Results:

• ERIS successfully aggregates patient test results from ancillary systems into a central location.
• Health Level 7 (HL7) interfaces facilitated common messaging and shortened interface design efforts.
• The HL7 specification proved flexible and addressed most integration needs encountered.

Conclusions:

• The Electronic Results Inquiry System (ERIS) enhances access to critical patient information.
• Health Level 7 (HL7) is a practical and beneficial standard for healthcare information exchange.
• The HL7 standard provides a flexible 'blueprint' for designing interfaces between diverse clinical systems.