New HL7 Guide

Health Level Seven (HL7) was designed to help hospitals and other health organizations transmit health information in a standard way. Immunization registries use a subset of HL7 messages for sending vaccination information. The goal is that if all registries and all medical record systems use the same standard it will improve the process of creating new interfaces.

What HL7 has done so for immunization registries:

1. Created a common message structure.
2. Standardized code sets.
3. Delineated business use cases.

What HL7 does not yet address:

1. Vaccine program specific information.
   
2. Specific state requirements.
3. Message transport.

Because of these gaps, AIRA has been working with the CDC to create a new Immunization Guide that addresses the gap in the HL7 standard. The new guide is due out this Spring.