HL7 International specifies a number of flexible standards, guidelines, and methodologies by which these healthcare systems can communicate with each other.
The standards allow for easier 'interoperability' of healthcare data as it is shared and processed uniformly and consistently by the different systems.
This allows clinical and non-clinical data to be shared more easily, theoretically improving patient care and health system performance.
[4] HL7 version 2 defines a series of electronic messages to support administrative, logistical, financial as well as clinical processes.
Currently, the HL7 v2.x messaging standard is supported by every major health informatics vendor in the United States.
RIM expresses the data content needed in a specific clinical or administrative context and provides an explicit representation of the semantic and lexical connections that exist between the information carried in the fields of HL7 messages.
The HL7 RIM, vocabulary specifications, and model-driven process of analysis and design combine to make HL7 Version 3 one methodology for the development of consensus-based standards for healthcare information systems interoperability.
The HDF not only documents messaging, but also the processes, tools, actors, rules, and artifacts relevant to the development of all HL7 standard specifications.
Structured Product Labeling describes the published information that accompanies a medicine, based on HL7 Version 3.
It leverages a modern web-based suite of API technology, including a HTTP-based RESTful protocol, HTML and Cascading Style Sheets for user interface integration, a choice of JSON or XML for data representation, OAuth for authorization and ATOM for query results.
It defines the data format and protocol for exchanging medical information, regardless of how it is stored in these systems.
[citation needed] They can produce alerts, diagnoses, and interpretations along with quality assurance function and administrative support.
An MLM must run on a computer that meets the minimum system requirements and has the correct program installed.
[18] The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services adopted CQL for clinical quality measure specifications since 2019.
[19] An implementation of CQL was open sourced and published by the National Committee for Quality Assurance in 2023 with the aim of encouraging adoption of the language.
[24] Hybrid Lower Layer Protocol (HLLP) is a variation of MLLP that includes a checksum to help verify message integrity.