Integrate – Interface – Connect: What does your RIS vendor mean when they say they can do all of these?
CONNECTIVITY
Today, in order to share important information, RIS systems connect to numerous other systems such as the Hospital Information System (HIS), billing system, PACS system, Voice Recognition system, etc. Most of these interfaces are accomplished through the use of HL7. Sounds simple right? The problem lies in the fact that there are numerous flavors of HL7 that are all considered “standard HL7”. An analogy would be radio waves. Yes, you can listen to any radio station but your radio has to be able to receive different frequencies of radio waves. Imagine what would happen if a radio manufacturer produced a radio that would only pick up one frequency. The radio salesperson would say, “Yes we have a radio and it works great.” What they didn’t tell you is that their radio will only pick up one, and only one, frequency. Thus, you can listen to any station provided that you somehow convince the station to transmit at that one frequency. They didn’t lie to you. They just didn’t disclose the whole truth. Unfortunately, the same is true for HL7 interfaces. A vendor might claim they will send (or receive) standard HL7 messages but they only accept/send one variation of HL7 and they expect the other vendors to adapt.
Here are some connectivity questions that will save you a lot of headaches in the future:
1) Are your interfaces flexible enough to adapt to most variations of HL7? Often, when you try to interface two systems via HL7, you find that the two systems are incompatible in some way. The worse case scenario is when each vendor says the other vendor must be the one to change and you have a stand-off. You have to have a plan for this event before you commit to purchase a RIS.
2) What are the costs associated with interfacing to other systems? Is there a cost per connection, cost per system or cost per transaction? Interface costs can sometimes exceed the license cost of the RIS. Also, what are the annual support costs for these interfaces?
3) What mechanisms does the vendor have in place to track/debug interface issues? It is imperative that the RIS communicate effectively and efficiently with other systems. Sooner or later, the interface will experience problems. It is important to know that the vendor has tools and experience in handling such issues. In fact, when you call a vendor’s referral customers, it is a great question to ask how often the interfaces go down and what is the average length of downtime per occurrence.
Bottom line: Find out, up front, if the vendor is able and willing to interface to your other systems and also, how much the vendor will charge you to interface to each of the systems it needs to communicate with. What connectivity guarantees, if any, do they offer?
I welcome your comments and responses.
Randall