Hl7

Last updated: 2026-03-29

Overview

The HL7 (Health Level Seven) module is the bridge between Minerva ERP and other healthcare systems (like external laboratories, billing software, or state registries). It automatically translates complex computer data into readable patient information, allowing different hospital systems to talk to each other seamlessly.

When Do I Use This?

  • When you need to verify if a patient's lab results were received from an external laboratory.
  • When troubleshooting why a patient's admission details did not sync to another department.
  • When an IT administrator or lab technician asks you to check if an HL7 message was processed successfully.

How To Use

Viewing System Messages

  1. Go to System Integrations → HL7 Messages from the main menu.
  2. You will see a list of recent data exchanges (incoming and outgoing).
  3. Click on any message to view its details.

Understanding an HL7 Message

HL7 messages look like a block of technical text, separated by pipes ( | ) and carets ( ^ ). Our system automatically breaks this down for you so you can easily find the information you need:

  1. Open the message record.
  2. Look at the Segments list. Each line of data serves a specific purpose (e.g., patient info, test results).
  3. Click on a segment to view the individual Fields (like a patient's name or test score).

Field Descriptions

When viewing the details of an HL7 data exchange, you will encounter the following terms:

Field Name Description
Raw Message The original, unformatted computer code sent by the external system. A valid message will always contain "MSH|" at the beginning.
Segment A specific line or category of information in the message. For example, "PID" is the segment containing Patient Identification data.
Field A specific piece of information inside a segment. For example, Field 5 in the PID segment is usually the Patient's Name.
Component When a field holds multiple pieces of data, it is broken into components. For example, a "Patient Name" field might be split into "Last Name" (Component 1) and "First Name" (Component 2).
Tip: You don't need to be an IT expert to read these messages! Just look for the three-letter Segment names. MSH is always the Message Header (tells you where it came from), PID contains Patient Details, and OBR/OBX usually contain Lab Results or Observations.
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