Pharmacy interfaced to an eMAR/EHR utilizes HL7 standard messages. HL7 (Health Level 7) is a set of international standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information. The healthcare industry commonly uses HL7 messages for communication between different healthcare systems and applications. At hl7endpoint.com, we offer an industry-leading pharmacy integration that is built on years of expertise. This enables us to display active medications accurately and pick up changes instantly.
The HL7 standard defines various message types, and the choice of which message type to use depends on the specific use case and the information that needs to be conveyed. In our case, we receive messages related to pharmacy activities. The two message types used are RDS (Pharmacy/treatment Dispense) and RDE (Pharmacy/treatment Encoded Order). We use our 'business rules' and proprietary configuration to show users the correct medications, manage changes, and minimize errors. We determine which messages to show and which to hide based on these rules. (The volume of messages would surprise you!)
Here's is a message overview for the most common pharmacy messages required for eMAR and EHR integration:
RDS (Pharmacy/treatment Dispense) Message:
The RDS message type communicates information about a medication or treatment that a patient has received. It includes details about the medication, dosage, timing, and other relevant information related to the dispensing event.
RDE (Pharmacy/treatment Encoded Order) Message:
The RDE message type is used to transmit an encoded medication or treatment order from one system to another. It contains information about the ordered medication, dosage, instructions, and other relevant details.
When dealing with pharmacy vendors and their software, different vendors might use HL7 messages in slightly different ways or customize them based on their implementation. Keep in mind that HL7 can be quite complex, and having a good understanding of the specific message types and their segments (fields) is essential for effectively processing the incoming messages. We are experts in HL7 development and our team is valuable with healthcare integration.