[thomasruns]

Wow. I haven't worked with HL7 since ~2004 and I was hoping it had changed, but apparently not. With HIPAA everything starting moving to X12 formats which had smaller file sizes and were much easier for developers to work with.

I'd be curious to know why Apple went with HL7. Was it a limitation of the EHRs they're integrating with? A demand of the hospitals?

[lostlogin]

Everything uses HL7, every last bit of equipment that has patient details on it, and people are familiar with working with it. This will be why they do it I think. I don’t think it can change now as it’s so deeply entrenched.

[commandar]

We're certainly starting to see a gradual transition over to XML/JSON via FHIR, and I've even worked with a couple of vendors that are pushing RESTful web services as their preferred integration method, but agreed: there's absolutely massive inertia behind legacy HL7.

Implementation costs for a primary EMR are in the millions and most ancillary systems still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to put in place. There's a lot of financial incentive for healthcare organizations to keep using what "works", even if it is ugly as hell.

[criley2]

The SEG|1|Field^^^|| etc stuff isn't "HL7", it's a specific HL7 spec, V2.

HL7 FHIR here is JSON and XML based.