Agree what an HL7 connection should achieve for staff

What this means for your practice

Describe the events to be exchanged, the sending and receiving systems and the result staff need. Ask the implementation team which message requirements and local agreements support that journey.

Questions to take to your supplier

Walk through a fictional event from the original staff action to the receiving result. Ask the implementation team to identify the applicable specification and local requirements. The practice should be able to recognise a successful handover without reading a technical message.

Agree the working process

Begin with a small set of business events that need to move between systems. For each, name the sending action, the receiving system and the result staff expect. An event list is more useful for scoping than a broad request to connect everything. Ask the implementation team to identify the applicable message requirements and local agreements, keeping questions for the business owners separate from purely technical decisions. Walk through a fictional example with both sending and receiving teams.

Confirm what information is necessary, which system holds the main record and what response means the handover has reached the required stage. Include a case that cannot be processed and assign the exception owner. Keep the agreed journey available during testing and support. When scope changes, add a new event deliberately rather than assume it is covered because the connection already exists. This helps the practice understand what it is buying and provides a concrete basis for accepting the result.

How to check the result

Count events lacking a defined receiving outcome.