SOAPwareXchangeHL7 Quick Reference Technical Guide

This lesson is intended for HL7 interface project managers, technical development and others assisting with the implementation of a HL7 interface. It will highlight some of the the rules that the SOAPwareXchangeHL7 interfaces will follow in regard to segment structure , and will save you and your developers time in implementing an interface with SOAPwareXchangeHL7. While this applies to all interfaces, there are some rules listed that will apply to only some.

 

SOAPwareXchangeHL7 Segment Requirements and Constraints

   MSH Segment

  • SOAPwareXchangeHL7 requires the MSH segment to be the first in the file. We do not accept FHS, BHS, or any other information before the MSH segment.
  • A separate MSH segment is required for each PID segment in the file.
  • MSH-3 may not be blank. We require an ID in this field to identify the sending lab so we can invoke the correct parser within SOAPwareXchangeHL7. The ID can be anything*, as long as it is consistent for all messages. Examples include the name of your lab, or acronym, or even the word LAB.

   *For all new interfaces where SOAPware has not implemented an interface with the sending facility and LIS software before, it is best to  

    use a send a generic tag if at all possible. These ID's correspond to what parser you want to invoke in the SOAPwareXchangeHL7. They

    are: Lab interface = LAB, Pathology interface = PATH, Radiology interface = RAD, Transcription interface = TRANS.

 

   PID Segment

  • A patient identifier is absolutely required in PID-3, to allow us to create patient mappings. This ID can be anything, as long as it is unique and consistent per patient.
  • First and Last name are also required in the PID segment. If either is not contained in the PID the message will be rejected.

   ORC Segment

  • While an ORC segment is not required for every interface, when it is not sent the accession number and ordering provider will be read from the OBR segment.
  • At least one OBR must be included with each ORC sent.
  • Our lab interface is capable of combining received reports by accession or order number. If an accession or order number is provided in ORC-3, it will be used for this purpose.

   OBR Segment

  • An ordering physician identifier is required in OBR-16, component 1. This ID allows us to construct our physician maps which cross-reference SOAPware® users to lab-identified physicians.
  • The title of the report created in SOAPware® will consist of the OBR-4 text for each OBR associated with the ORC, appended.
  • In the Transcription parser, 32 fields are required with the OBR segment. Not every field is needed to be populated, only that delimiters exist to indicate 32 fields.
  • In the Transcription parser, multiple CC physicians sent in OBR-28 will be processed individually and a report created for each. Physicians that do not belong to the practice may be excluded in the SOAPwareXchangeHL7 physician mapping option. CC physicians are only supported with the Transcription parser at this time.

   OBX Segment

  • For textual based interfaces, (Radiology, Pathology, Transcription) only OBX-5 will be displayed.
  • The Transcription parser will process a single OBX segment only, separated by carriage returns.    That is: \.br\

   NTE Segment

  • NTE segments are sometimes used to help control formatting. When used for the purpose of inserting a blank line into the final report, be sure to include a blank NTE-3 in the segment.

 

       NTE||| will produce a blank line.

       NTE|| will not.

  • For the Lab Results parser, all NTE segments will auto-wrap to the next line at 35 characters or to the nearest word.
  • SOAPwareXchangeHL7 cannot currently process messages with embedded PDF's.