Sending PDFs and Images Via HL7

HL7 over LLP is sufficient for sending short messages but becomes problematic when sending larger amounts of data. For instance, the protocol does not offer support for functionality like resuming, chunking of data and checksums. This is typical functionality that is usually offered when sending large amounts of data. As expected, however, HL7 works well for small payloads of data structured according to segments.

HL7 applications are not usually written to handle very large messages. This means that if you want to send a large message, you will most likely discover limits with routers, counterparties, etc.

A better approach for sending PDFs and images is to send your counterparty a URL in the HL7 message. This URL would point to the source PDF document.

Consider the following message:

MSH|^~\&|ADV-LABLOG|WML|MEDICALCENTER|NAPOLEAN|200603170742||ORU^R01|14589|P|2.3||
PID|1||102688||JOHNSON^TYLER||19590910|M|||||||||||571344850|
ORC|RE||27828002^COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC||F|N|||200603011208|||1VANL^GUTIERREZ^NOEL^M.D.|W2||200603011208||
OBR|1||27828002^COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC|27828002^COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC|||200603011355|||WML||||200603011208||D84051|||||||||F|
OBX|1|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|Portable chest 7:00AM||||||F
OBX|2|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|||||||F
OBX|3|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|||||||F
OBX|4|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|Portable chest 12:00PM||||||F
OBX|5|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|||||||F
OBX|6|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|||||||F

Sample Message

If you wanted to send a URL that pointed to a PDF containing test results, all you would need to do is insert the URL inside a segment (note, that this also applies to images). So, using the above example, you could do the following:

MSH|^~\&|ADV-LABLOG|WML|MEDICALCENTER|NAPOLEAN|200603170742||ORU^R01|14589|P|2.3||
PID|1||102688||JOHNSON^TYLER||19590910|M|||||||||||571344850|
ORC|RE||27828002^COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC||F|N|||200603011208|||1VANL^GUTIERREZ^NOEL^M.D.|W2||200603011208||
OBR|1||27828002^COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC|27828002^COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC|||200603011355|||WML||||200603011208||D84051|||||||||F|
OBX|1|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|Portable chest 7:00AM||||||F
OBX|2|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|||||||F
OBX|3|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|||||||F
OBX|4|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|Portable chest 12:00PM||||||F
OBX|5|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|http://www.abchospital/xray.jpg||||||F
OBX|6|TX|502^CHEST XRAY^L|1|http://www.abchospital/test_results.pdf||||||F

URLs Shown in Last Two OBX Segments

iNTERFACEWARE™ Inc.

Sending PDFs and Images Via HL7