KEYWORDS:
Contra Costa Automated Immunization Registry; CCAIR; Ask-CCAIR; Next-due-date Recommendation; XML; HL-7 Messages; Web Service
BACKGROUND:
Many systems including physician office practice management software and immunization registries store vaccination histories, but which may not have value-added functionality like next-due-date recommendations.
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of “Ask-CCAIR”, which is a part of the Contra Costa Automated Immunization Registry (CCAIR), is to provide and to return next-due-date recommendations to external systems by accepting inputs, via common, standardized messages, of patient demographic and immunization history information and then applying its algorithm of vaccine schedule, which is identical to the core of CCAIR, without having to store those data locally inside CCAIR.
METHOD:
The “Ask-CCAIR” system was designed by rearranging the components of the “HL7 Web Service Gateway”, a system presented last year and which allows CCAIR to communicate with external systems via HL-7 messages.
External systems communicate with this Gateway via plain XML or VXR HL7 messages (non-standard usage) that contain the patient demographic and vaccination history information. A Server Application processes the information using CCAIR’s vaccination schedule algorithm and returns the recommendations in a standard VXR HL7 message to the external system.
RESULT:
An existing standalone immunization registry is converted into externally callable functions to provide the analysis of past immunization history, recommendation of next-due-dates and explanation of how the scheduling logic worked (“Why” button), while using standard messaging methods for transporting data.
CONCLUSION:
Systems that were not designed as immunization registries can easily obtain value-added services such as next-due-date recommendations from registries by calling easy-to-use functions.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To understand how an existing immunization registry can provide consulting services to external systems.
Handout (.ppt format, 406.0 kb)
Back to Practical Connections With the HL7 Standard
Back to The 2003 Immunization Registry Conference (October 27-29, 2003)