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The Medical fraternity and the healthcare sector have long acknowledged the
benefits of IT investment. The use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) v^orldwide can
levitate service levels, improve patient care and safety, and lower costs. The clamour for
new, smart computer systems for healthcare is allied with a commensurate need for
standardized, regulated global operation, facilitating the free but controlled exchange,
storage, management, and access to valued healthcare information. Enhancing Semantic
Interoperability is key, which is the meaningful interchange of healthcare information with
homogenous understanding. But of tantamount importance is also the implemented
standard’s ubiquitous appeal, facilitating International Interoperability.
Health Level Seven (HL7) is the predominant interoperability-related global
healthcare standard in operation today. Introduced in 1987 by the HL7 International Inc., its
current version 3 has a few jssues. Besides being difficult to implement and maintain, true
international interoperability the germinal thought behind HL7, is still an illusion. Member
countries need to be able to exchange healthcare information expeditiously and efficiently.
The EHR of any patient should be available to the treating medical practitioner irrespective
of the geographical location of the patient or his migration habits. Current HL7
implementations are deficient in this respect, and as such the achieyement of these goals
undercore the thrust of this research. •
This paper presents a pragmatic and practical approach to achieving true HL7-based
International Interoperability. It discusses challenges to the global use of the standard, and
examines deleterious adaptations which subvert exchange. Systematic expansion of HL7’s
use is recommended, capitalizing on the abounding benefits afforded, and manifold cogent
considerations in the present day’s context are discussed. Uniform, universal, HL7 use
overarching socio-economic boundaries and other demographic stratifications is advocated,
confluent towards our principle, superlative interoperability goal.
Current implementations of the HL7 standard are non-uniform, non-contiguous,
nationally-oriented pockets of interoperability, true international exchange is veritably
subverted. This paper propounds an unerring, reliable, and secure approach to actualize
ubiquitous exchange and International Interoperability
