Hi,
we have been using openemr for 6 month now. the local lab supports sending / receiving orders/results using hl7 interface. I have a decent knowledge w php and database development. need advice on where to start w hl7 integration w openemr
Thanks in advance
Well, personally, I am not a member of http://HL7.org , so I have no idea of what the format is like. I do imagine that if you have the standards, and the file can be parsed (obviously) then you would just need to undertake making the libraries and classes needed to read an HL7 file and store the values, then write the values to the database. A good example (well, an example anyway) might be the ERA import utility and the HL7 reader.
I THINK that you will need the parser to look at the file, see if it is for a new or existing patient, then have it fill out the patient data, insurance, encounters and all that rot. Basically, it will probably be a pretty complex tool if it is able to import any and all HL7 files and do the correct things with them.
If it is ONLY labs you want to bring in, and you don’t just want to copy and paste from the EMR’s built-in HL7 reader, then it shouldn’t be too complex. As a general-use tool, be aware that some countries have additional/different standards for HL7 that may need configuring.
-Sorry to be of so little help.
Thanks for the reply, in your post, you mentioned ERA import utility, where can I find that? also in the manual, there is some talk about open emr integration with mirth project. Is that on the road map, or already available?
To give you and idea about the scenario i have, the lab server can post hl7 compliant results to a network share and can monitor hl7 lab orders that are placed on a network share. I did some googling, and noticed there are some hl7 engines available. I’m trying to get an idea where to start or any successful projects already done
Err, well, the parts of that function are sort of all over the place.
/xampp/htdocs/openemr/library/parse_era.inc might be of interest, as well as the interface php files and anything else related to it. I am sure you could start with identifying the first file linked in the emr with the “upload era” button, look at it’s functions and includes to see what other files are indicated.
If you get ahold of a copy of the HL7 standards…hook a brother up. I would not mind knowing how to parse them myself. It would be good to create interfaces for equipment that exports that stuff. Of course, all those 1960’s style “son of COBOL” looking delimited text file thingies (HL7, x12) should probably go away in favor of something more…oh, 80’s style. .
All you need is to to send/receive lab order/results with the OpenEMR to any of your associated lab. This is achieved by having a Standards based HL7 interface engine between the OpenEMR and the Lab, with secured communication.
It doesn’t involves php coding; may be for parsing you need scripting knowledge
I downloaded /installed mith engine this weekend, seems to be very straight farward. I will look into the code of /htdocs/openemr/library/parse_era.inc and see if that can be a start point for parsing. propably tomorrow.
I am also attempting to transfer data from OEMR to an HL7 compliant device. I guess I have to use Mirth to transform and relay the data message. My device has HL7 port settings that I can select for connection. How do I set or find the port settings for OEMR?
I am guessing that I do have to use Mirth in order to connect OEMR and an HL7 device.
That’s what we (mi-squared.com) does for the labcorp Lab Exchange Server. Though we have other HL7 connectors that just use a http POST message. Just depends on the target. Take a look at: