What You Need to Know About Vendor Neutral Image Access and HL7
A new acronym is hitting the healthcare IT industry, it’s pronounced “fire.” Fast healthcare interoperability resource (FHIR) is combining the best features of version two of HL7 as well as version three of CDS product lines. It leverages the latest Web standards and allows for better implementation to existing systems. When it comes to vendor neutral image access and HL7, there are some changes that need to be made, and FHIR could be one of the ways to affect that change.
The antiquated way of addressing the issue is to only think of messaging and a heavy focus on documents. The FHIR process takes a more advanced approach in accessing data and delivering it in a more flexible way, meaning, it doesn’t specify content, only what is meant by the content.
The goal is to be more patient-centric, across the board. Facilities that aren’t approaching their processes like this are likely behind, not only on offering better care, but also on staying compliant with the rules and regulations that cover the healthcare industry. For instance, phase III of Meaningful Use requires medical images specialists (radiologists) to deliver their reports electronically within 24 hours of the examination.
Improving vendor neutral image access and HL7 will improve radiologists’ ability to deliver these reports in a more timely fashion. While HL7 doesn’t have anything directly to do with Meaningful Use, it expanded electronic medical records and created a need for more HL7 integration.
Healthcare professionals can get free access to FHIR, and there is no license fees for users, nor are they required to be HL7 members. The technologists behind it expect to see a FHIR normative standard for HL7 at some point in 2016. By that time the process should have gone through enough “beta” testing to work out any inefficiencies within it. Furthermore, FHIR is likely going to be adopted throughout the world as the draft standard with the U.S. leading the way.
Vendor neutral image access and HL7 processes should see a boost in conformity, as more facilities become entrenched in VNA systems that work just as well with HL7 data as they do with medical images.
Why is HL7 so Important?
HL7 is a format that has been adopted at the national level and is now the communication method recognized worldwide. Structured data through HL7 can travel from one communication system to another. HL7 actually specializes in creating rules that establish where each piece of information will land when it travels from one electronic medical record to another.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., is focused on offering healthcare providers the ability to archive, access and share their HL7 data and medical images across disparate systems. We are able to do this at a more affordable cost for clients, especially rural providers that have historically struggled with access to quality solutions. Learn more about our approach by contacting us today.