NOTE: THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS FIELD SEPARATORS SYMBOLIZED BY VERTICAL BARS. "[BAR]" INDICATES THE USE OF A BAR.

Templates for using HL7 v2.5 messages

W. Ed Hammond
March 23, 2008

This document includes a set of templates for using HL7 v2.5 messages for the exchange of data from participating hospitals and clinics and a central repository.

An HL7 message is composed of segments designed for a specific purpose to carry data related to patient demographics, the encounter, and data created during the encounter. Each segment begins with a 3 letter mnemonic which identifies the segment. Some segments are repeating. If a data field is not used, the field delimiter is inserted so the position count in the segment is maintained.

Although I have included a few templates for segments you may not use at the beginning, they will be used shortly. There are many more segments that I will not include in this document at the present time for simplicity. If a need later arises for data included in these other segments, I will add to this document. The HL7 v2.n series of messages have grown over the past 20 years and are rather complete in content.

All messages begin with the MSH, or Message Header, segment. This segment identifies the sender and the receiver and includes a date/time stamp. Most messages will include also the Patient Identifier Segment (PID), the Patient Visit Segment (PV1), and a repeating number of OBX segments for the lab results and later for vital signs and other physical exam data elements. There is a segment for procedures and a segment for visit diagnoses that are not included at this time.

Each of the following tables is a segment. The column headings include the sequence number of field position within the segment, the maximum length, the data type , whether required or not, whether repeating or not, the element name, and which fields must be populated for your use. I will explain data types for those fields you will use. The tables are not complete. I did not define any fields beyond those currently required.

MSH - Message Header

SEQ	LEN	DT	OPT	RP/#	ELEMENT NAME	Comment	Site Content
1	1	ST	R		Field Separator	Filter bar ([BAR])	[BAR]
2	4	ST	R		Encoding Characters	-Component separator ˆ -Sub-component separator ~ -Repetition separator \ -Escape character &	ˆ~\&
3	227	HD	Ο		Sending Application
4	227	HD	Ο		Sending Facility		Create a table of sending facilities
5	227	HD	Ο		Receiving Application
6	227	HD	Ο		Receiving Facility		Create a name for receiving
7	26	TS	R		Date/Time Of Message	CCYYMMDDHHMM	200803231435
8	40	ST	Ο		Security
9	15	MSG	R		Message Type	TypeˆTrigger	CSUˆZ01
10	20	ST	R		Message Control ID		You may want to create a numbering scheme 12345
11	3	PT	R		Processing ID	Production (P), Training (T) or Debug (D)	P
12	60	VID	R		Version ID		2.5

Example:

MSH[BAR]ˆ~\&[BAR][BAR]DukeHosp[BAR][BAR]VDC[BAR]200803231435[BAR][BAR]GENˆA05[BAR]12345[BAR][BAR]2.5

Notes:

1. HD (Hierarchical Designator) is a unique name that identifies the system that is either the source or the receiver of the data. It is a user defined name.
2. I suggest using a message type of CSU for unsolicited study data message and a trigger of Z01 for locally defined. If we need more than one message type of trigger event, we can define them.

PID - Patient Identification

SEQ	LEN	DT	OPT	RP/#	ELEMENT NAME	COMMENT	SITE CONTENT
1	4	SI	Ο		Set ID - PID	Always	1
2	20	CX	B		Patient ID		Medical Record Number
3	250	CX	R	Y	Patient Identifier List
4	20	CX	B	Y	Alternate Patient ID - PID		Patient Control Number
5	250	XPN	R	Y	Patient Name
6	250	XPN	Ο	Y	Mother's Maiden Name
7	26	TS	Ο		Date/Time of Birth		CCYYMMDD
8	1	IS	Ο		Administrative Sex	Gender M,F,U	M, F, or U
9	250	XPN	B	Y	Patient Alias
10	250	CE	Ο	Y	Race
11	250	XAD	Ο	Y	Patient Address		ˆˆˆˆZIP
12	4	IS	B		County Code
13	250	XTN	Ο	Y	Phone Number - Home
14	250	XTN	Ο	Y	Phone Number - Business
15	250	CE	Ο		Primary Language
16	250	CE	Ο		Marital Status
17	250	CE	Ο		Religion
18	250	CX	Ο		Patient Account Number
19	16	ST	B		SSN Number - Patient		SSN
20	25	DLN	B		Driver's License Number - Patient
21	250	CX	Ο	Y	Mother's Identifier
22	250	CE	Ο	Y	Ethnic Group
23	250	ST	Ο		Birth Place
24	1	ID	Ο		Multiple Birth Indicator
25	2	NM	Ο		Birth Order
26	250	CE	Ο	Y	Citizenship
27	250	CE	Ο		Veterans Military Status
28	250	CE	B		Nationality
29	26	TS	Ο		Patient Death Date and Time
30	1	ID	Ο		Patient Death Indicator

EXAMPLE

PID[BAR]1[BAR]MRN[BAR][BAR]PCN[BAR][BAR][BAR]19350109[BAR]M[BAR][BAR]27712[BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR]999-99-9999

Notes

1. The address data type is XAD for extended address. It is a structure in which the address is broken into sub-components. The separator is the ˆ. The Zip code falls into the 5 position, hence the leading ˆ above.

PV1 - Patient Visit

SEQ	LEN	DT	OPT	RP/#	ELEMENT NAME	COMMENT	SITE CONTENT
1	4	SI	Ο		Set ID - PV1		1
2	1	IS	R		Patient Class
3	80	PL	Ο		Assigned Patient Location
4	2	IS	Ο		Admission Type
5	250	CX	Ο		Preadmit Number
6	80	PL	Ο		Prior Patient Location
7	250	XCN	Ο	Y	Attending Doctor		Medicare Provider Number
8	250	XCN	Ο	Y	Referring Doctor
9	250	XCN	B	Y	Consulting Doctor
10	3	IS	Ο		Hospital Service
11	80	PL	Ο		Temporary Location
12	2	IS	Ο		Preadmit Test Indicator
13	2	IS	Ο		Re-admission Indicator
14	6	IS	Ο		Admit Source
15	2	IS	Ο	Y	Ambulatory Status
16	2	IS	Ο		VIP Indicator
17	250	XCN	Ο	Y	Admitting Doctor
18	2	IS	Ο		Patient Type
19	250	CX	Ο		Visit Number
20	50	FC	Ο	Y	Financial Class
21	2	IS	Ο		Charge Price Indicator
22	2	IS	Ο		Courtesy Code
23	2	IS	Ο		Credit Rating
24	2	IS	Ο	Y	Contract Code
25	8	DT	Ο	Y	Contract Effective Date
26	12	NM	Ο	Y	Contract Amount
27	3	NM	Ο	Y	Contract Period
28	2	IS	Ο		Interest Code
29	4	IS	Ο		Transfer to Bad Debt Code
30	8	DT	Ο		Transfer to Bad Debt Date
31	10	IS	Ο		Bad Debt Agency Code
32	12	NM	Ο		Bad Debt Transfer Amount
33	12	NM	Ο		Bad Debt Recovery Amount
34	1	IS	Ο		Delete Account Indicator
35	8	DT	Ο		Delete Account Date
36	3	IS	Ο		Discharge Disposition
37	47	DLD	Ο		Discharged to Location
38	250	CE	Ο		Dist Type
39	2	IS	Ο		Servicing Facility
40	1	IS	B		Bed Status
41	2	IS	Ο		Account Status
42	80	PL	Ο		Pending Location
43	80	PL	Ο		Prior Temporary Location
44	26	TS	Ο		Admit Date/Time		CCYYMMDD
45	26	TS	Ο	Y	Discharge Date/Time		CCYYMMDD
46	12	NM	Ο		Current Patient Balance
47	12	NM	Ο		Total Charges
48	12	NM	Ο		Total Adjustments
49	12	NM	Ο		Total Payments
50	250	CX	Ο		Alternate Visit ID
51	1	IS	Ο		Visit Indicator
52	250	XCN	B	Y	Other Healthcare Provider

EXAMPLE

PV1[BAR]1[BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR]MPN[BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR][BAR]20080315[BAR]20080318

OBX – Observation/Result

SEQ	LEN	DT	OPT	ITEM#	ELEMENT NAME	COMMENT	SITE CONTENT
1	4	SI	Ο	00569	Set ID – OBX		Sequential numbers starting with 11
2	2	ID	C	00570	Value Type		Result type NM = numeric ST = char string CE = coded element
3	250	CE	R	00571	Observation Identifier		LOINC code
4	20	ST	C	00572	Observation Sub-ID
5	9999	varies	C	00573	Observation Value		Value of test
	g1
6	250	CE	Ο	00574	Units		You need to agree on what units will be used
7	60	ST	Ο	00575	References Range		Low value – high value
8	5	IS	Ο	00576	Abnormal Flags
9	5	NM	Ο	00577	Probability
10	2	ID	Ο	00578	Nature of Abnormal Test
11	1	ID	R	00579	Observation Result Status
12	26	TS	Ο	00580	Effective Date of Reference Range
13	20	ST	Ο	00581	User Defined Access Checks
14	26	TS	Ο	00582	Date/Time of the Observation
15	250	CE	Ο	00583	Producer's ID
16	250	XCN	Ο	00584	Responsible Observer
17	250	CE	Ο	00936	Observation Method
18	22	EI	Ο	01479	Equipment Instance Identifier
19	26	TS	Ο	01480	Date/Time of the Analysis

EXAMPLE:

OBX[BAR]1[BAR]33509-1[BAR][BAR]11.1[BAR]G/DL[BAR](12.5-16.0)