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HL7

The HL7 data services implement the Health Level Seven version 2.x messaging standard used in the health services industry. The HL7 standard is used world-wide in hospital and medical information systems.

HL7 message structure

An HL7 message contains segments that are separated by line breaks. Each segment has a three-character label, such as

MSH

(message header) or

PID

(patient identification). Each segment contains a predefined hierarchy of fields and sub-fields. The fields are delimited by the characters immediately following the

MSH

designator, typically

|^~\&

. The message type is specified by a field in the

MSH

segment.

The following example shows a message of type

ADT

and subtype

A01

, which is an

Admit a Patient

message:

MSH|^~\&|ADT1|MCM|FINGER|MCM|198808181126|SECURITY|ADT^A01|MSG00001|P|2.3.1
EVN|A01|198808181123
PID|1||PATID1234^5^M11^ADT1^MR^MCM~123456789^^^USSSA^SS||
SMITH^WILLIAM^A^III||19610615|M||C|1200 N ELM STREET^^JERUSALEM^TN^99999?
1020|GL|(999)999?1212|(999)999?3333||S||PATID12345001^2^M10^ADT1^AN^A|
123456789|987654^NC
NK1|1|SMITH^OREGANO^K|WI^WIFE||||NK^NEXT OF KIN
PV1|1|I|2000^2012^01||||004777^CASTRO^FRANK^J.|||SUR||||ADM|A0

The patient's name,

Smith^William^A

, follows the

PID

label by five

delimiters. The last and first names,

Smith

and

William,

are separated by a

delimiter.

For readability, the sample message contains extra line breaks in addition to the line breaks that are in the original message.

HL7 message in XML format

The HL7 parser data services can convert HL7 messages into HL7 version 2.x XML schemas. The following example shows an HL7 message in XML format:

<HL7:ADT_A01 xmlns:HL7="http://www.informatica.com/B2B/HL7">
  <HL7:MSH>
    <MSH.1>|</MSH.1>
    <MSH.2>^~\&</MSH.2>
    <MSH.3>
      <HD.1>ADT1</HD.1>
    </MSH.3>
    <MSH.4>
      <HD.1>MCM</HD.1>
    </MSH.4>
    <MSH.5>
      <HD.1>LABADT</HD.1>
    </MSH.5>
    <MSH.6>
      <HD.1>MCM</HD.1>
    </MSH.6>
    <MSH.7>
      <TS.1>198808181126</TS.1>
    </MSH.7>
    <MSH.8>SECURITY</MSH.8>
    <MSH.9>
      <MSG.1>ADT</MSG.1>
      <MSG.2>A01</MSG.2>
    </MSH.9>
    <MSH.10>MSG00001</MSH.10>

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HL7

HL7

HL7 message structure

HL7 message in XML format