This chapter introduces the HL7 standard, short for Health Level Seven. It will aid you in gaining a greater understanding of the HL7 standard and focuses its attention on the characteristics of the HL7 protocol, as well as the various versions of the standard created by the HL7 organization. In addition, this chapter also discusses the overall advantages and disadvantages of HL7 and explains why it is not simply plug-and-play. Finally, you will also learn about the components that comprise an HL7 message, about delimiter characters and gain a better understanding of HL7 messages in general.
To begin meeting your HL7 project requirements, a basic understanding of HL7 is generally all that's required.
