Healthcare: HL7 to HL7 DFDL pattern

The Healthcare: HL7 to HL7 DFDL pattern integrates an application that can send Health Level Seven International (HL7) v2 messages with one or more applications that can receive HL7 messages. The applications must be capable of sending and receiving HL7 messages by using Minimal Lower Layer Protocol (MLLP) over TCP/IP.

A diagram showing the three parts of the Healthcare: HL7 to HL7 pattern

Important!

You must import an HL7 DFDL library into your workspace. The DFDL model in the library is used to parse HL7 messages as they are processed by the message flows. You must include a reference to the HL7 DFDL library in your project so that the DFDL library can be deployed together with the generated application. By default, the application generated by the pattern contains a reference to the library that contains the HL7 v2.7 DFDL model. If you want to use the HL7 v2.6 or HL7 v2.5.1 DFDL models, see Preparing the HL7 DFDL library.

You can import the HL7 DFDL library into your workspace from the Resources for the pattern page.

The HL7 DFDL library takes a long time to build and deploy. You can reduce the time it takes to build the DFDL model by deleting the HL7 chapters from the message set. Leave the GenericHL7.xsd, segments.xsd, fields.xsd, and datatypes.xsd message definition files in the message set as they are required by the pattern.

Options

The Receiver flow in this pattern supports the following options:

Receiving HL7 messages by using MLLP over TCP/IP
Validating and parsing of messages
Auditing incoming messages
Checking and processing of duplicate messages
Supporting sequencing options
Publishing each incoming message, or sending the message to a queue for processing outside the pattern
Sending output to a transform and route queue
Handling exceptions

The TransformAndRoute flow in this pattern supports the following options:

Transforming to canonical XML format
Publishing the canonical incoming message, or sending the message to a queue for processing outside the pattern
Reporting on additional fields found in HL7 segments
Distributing messages to multiple, separately configurable, destinations
Filtering the messages to send to each destination
Filtering the segments to include for each destination
Customizing points to enable the inclusion of non-standard, destination-specific changes
Transforming back to HL7 and sending the output to the queue for the sender flow for each destination
Handling exceptions

Each Sender flow in this pattern supports the following options:

Reading transformed messages for this destination
Validating transformed messages
Ensuring that messages are delivered in sequence according to the sequencing options
Notifying when messages arrive out of sequence
Delivering HL7 messages to the destination application by using MLLP over TCP/IP
Handling exceptions

Further information

Design of the pattern

Managing a pattern instance

Monitoring the pattern

Pattern parameters

Resources for the pattern

Running the pattern

Testing the pattern