HL7 Interface Questions

[caldjeff]

I'm going to try and make this as short as possible. I've recently begun a job as internal IT for a relatively small medical lab. I was basically brought in to start dealing with the "interface nightmare" that has evolved here over the last 15 years. We have 35+ interfaces with local clinics, hospitals, etc. and we're paying through the nose to "maintain" these brittle interfaces and build new ones.

My background is government IT, but I have a lot experience in data exchange (Excel, csv, xml) so HL7 isn't scary to me. I've figured out pretty much how most of these interfaces work. The problem is that we're completely held hostage by our LIS vendor (LABDAQ) who refuses to allow access to anything that writes to their database unless they build it themselves at a hefty fee + maintenance.

I'm just looking to have a conversation with somebody else who has gone down this road. I'm shocked at how few the resources are online in this area, which is why I ended up here. There is at least a community here that understands this stuff. Oh...did I mention that Mirth is the middleware piece that the LIS vendor uses to pass messages in and out. But there is another layer between Mirth and the LIS that is locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

So am I out of luck before I ever even get going with this job or has anybody successfully navigated these seas? I'd be willing to pay for consulting time if somebody will just let me pick your brain. Thanks for all your contributions on this board. I've already learned so much from reading through messages on here.

[nafwa03]

Currently we are interfacing with the current LIS vendor you mentioned. I haven't had any issues as of yet but I would like to pick your brain as well to the actual hardships you are having.

I have successfully been able to bypass the whole LIS by interfacing the machines ourselves but our new lab tech was more familiar with LABDAQ and was able to convince to go with them at our lab.

Could you be more specific on the issues you are having or what exactly you need? I am sure we could be of help to each other.

[caldjeff]

I'm very interested in hearing your experiences and background and picking your brain as well. As I said, I'm pretty new to this field and subject matter, but not to getting data in/data out. I'll send you a private message with more info.