The interoperability world is complex with lots of jargon and acronyms. Let's see if we can clear some of those terms up for you.
A network protocol that means "I got the message." Because the tech world can't bear to use full words, this is typically seen in the wild as ACK.
Refers to hospital operational activities related to a patient's admission, movements within the hospital, general coordination, and discharge details.
Regarding integration, you may hear ADT when referring to the particular brand of HL7v2 messages you're receiving. These types of messages include data triggered by a patient's ADT activities or changes to their personal information, including patient ID changes.
The national organization that oversees standards and guidelines that impact nearly every sector of business. Explore ANSI's mission.
Allows communication or data exchange between different systems by using a set of defined protocols. If you want a crash course in APIs, check out AWS's article on API basics.
Authenticates a system to communicate or exchange data with another. An API key can also identify a system in a data exchange. Learn about our authentication methods and API keys.
A file transfer protocol specification used to exchange data over a secure point-to-point integration. This is mostly used as a business-to-business (B2B) messaging protocol.
Check out the business-to-business definition if you want to learn more about what B2B generally means.
May be part of the process for an implementation project if you want to ingest historical data from your connection's system before going live. Backfilling is useful if you want to access patient data that existed before your go-live date for your implementation project. Check out our recommendations for backfilling.
A legal term referring to an individual or organization that uses or discloses protected health information (PHI) on behalf of, or provides services to, a covered entity.
A contract between business associates that holds each accountable for securing any data they house within their system as part of their integration. You and your connection must have a BAA in order to integrate and exchange data with each other.
Refers to the type of business that sells products or services to other business, rather than directly to consumers. This term is commonly shortened to B2B, whereas business-to-consumer is known as B2C.
To give an example, Redox is a B2B company. You integrating with your connections is a B2B form of business as well.
A system used for storing cardiological imaging data.
Oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and programs focused on quality standards that directly impact EHRs (i.e., Meaningful Use, PQRS, CDS). Visit the CMS website for more information.
An XML standard created by Health Level 7 International (HL7) for representing clinical documents.
A system used for storing clinical data and protocols related to research and clinical trials.
Short for "configuration." In our context, a config is a YAML-formatted file that defines how Redox reads and transforms data to enable integration between two systems.
Our library of pre-built configs with customizable logic to match integration specifications for Redox customers.
A collection of templates defining how to represent most clinical concepts in CDA. As of Meaningful Use 2, most systems can exchange C-CDA version 1.1 documents. Version 2.1 is intended to be backwards-compatible and is required by Meaningful Use 3.
Read Particle's documentation on C-CDA for a more in-depth overview.
A type of CDA that typically summarizes a patient's chart or visit. A CCD may correspond to the patient's entire chart, a single visit, or a longer period of care like a pregnancy or specific date range.
The latest version of CCD is defined in the C-CDA template collection.
A base set of clinical concepts representing an electronic summary of health. It's also an old XML standard which hasn't been used since Meaningful Use 1. The CCD maps the CCR dataset into CDA.
Defined in the HIPAA rules as (1) health plans, (2) healthcare clearinghouses, and (3) healthcare providers who electronically transmit any health information in relation to HHS standards.
Refers to querying and retrieving medical data from other "communities," which are facilities that agree to share patient data.
A SOAP-based technology that locates communities that may have relevant patient health data and translates patient identifiers across communities. This can map to PatientSearch.
A system that facilitates the exchange of clinical documents between facilities.
Describes the categories of data that can be exchanged with your connection via the Redox Data Model API. You can combine data models to perform a given action to accomplish your unique workflow. Learn more about our Data Model API.
A Redox capability that enables some query-based data exchanges, even if your connection doesn't support it but is still willing to provide data with a push-based (or asynchronous) method. Learn more about data on demand.
An enterprise security leadership role that's responsible for overseeing their company's data collection and protection, as well as ensuring GDPR compliance. The DPO must be notified of all security breaches and issues.
An HL7v2 message format used for exchanging charges and financial data.
The international standard to exchange, store, retrieve, print, process, and display medical imaging and related data. Learn more about how Redox translates DICOM data to FHIR®.
A tool for storing document imaging, which are often scanned documents. This type of system may also convert and store data from external sources (e.g., PDFs produced by external systems).
Refers to a system that collects clinical data in an electronic format.
We use this term to refer to teams focused on integration.
In the healthcare industry, EDI often refers to the Claims team handling X12 transactions. Learn how Redox translates X12 to FHIR®.
Refers to healthcare organizations or professionals securely exchanging patient medical information. HIE could also refer to the organization responsible for exchanging data. Read more about HIE.
A database system that a healthcare organization uses to store their patients' medical history.
A database system that a healthcare organization uses to store their patients' medical history. This term has largely been replaced by the term Electronic Health Record (EHR).
Any PHI that's created, stored, transmitted, or received electronically. See the definition for PHI.
A patient database used by a health system to track patients across systems or departments.
An EMPI assigns a unique identifier to a patient, which is used throughout the health system. With that unique identifier, the patient's medical data can be consistent and tracked correctly.
Several patient encounters grouped together for a specific treatment or functionality, typically in a hospital setting.
A common format that defines and stores data to be exchanged. Redox commonly supports XML for documents like CCDs. Read AWS's article about XML.
A process for extracting data from external sources, importing it into a data storage warehouse, and transforming it into other formats. Read dbt's article about ETL.
The latest standard developed by the HL7 organization to exchange healthcare data. Learn more about our FHIR® API.
Represents a data exchange method where files are placed in a predefined location on a system's server and picked up at predetermined intervals by another system. FTP is the traditional unsecured form of SFTP.
Rules that you define to allow or block a subset of data payloads that you receive asynchronously from one of your connections. Learn more about filters.
Indicates the order that messages are processed in. FIFO means that the first message received is the first one processed. Read more about how we sequence asynchronous events.
The date when an organization has completed the required steps for implementing with their connection and is ready to move to production. .
An accredited role that provides certificates and authorization for Direct Secure Messaging. Learn more about alternative integration methods.
Passed in 2009 to incentivize Meaningful Use for EHR systems that demonstrate adoption of health information technology. Read more about HITECH.
A U.S. bill that was passed in 1996 to help maintain health insurance for patients, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information, and offer regulatory guidelines for healthcare administrative costs.
An organization that develops standards for exchanging health data. Explore HL7's mission.
The acronym "HL7" may also refer to the HL7v2 message format standard, which EHR systems commonly use to communicate with Redox. You can recognize HL7v2 messages with these symbols: |^&~/. HL7v3 (version 3) is XML-formatted and typically associated with CDA messages.
A part of the provider's progress note that contains a clinical summary of a patient's medical history.
A part of the provider's progress note that summarizes the onset and extent of a patient’s illness.
The name of the department responsible for supporting the integrity and quality of the health system's data. For example, HIM tracks how data is kept private or shared with appropriate parties (e.g., releasing information upon request) and maintains the master patient index (MPI).
An application protocol that facilitates communication between web servers and web browsers, which basically makes up the foundation of the internet. Check out these resources for more:
An identity provider is a third-party system that stores and manages users in your organization. This is useful for anyone that wants to enable SSO for their Redox organization. Learn how to set up SSO for your organization.
Some examples of common identity providers are Okta, Jumpcloud, Entra, or OneLogin. Read TrustBuilder's docs about identity providers.
Refers to patients in a hospital setting, typically residing in hospital beds. Inpatient applications are systems that cater to the needs of hospitalized patients.
An organization that promotes standards to improve how healthcare software systems share information. Explore IHE's mission.
An organization of global experts that develop standards for quality management, environmental management, health and safety, energy management, food safety, and IT security. Explore ISO's mission.
Refers to devices, applications, equipment, appliances, or buildings that enable data exchange over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Read AWS's article about IoT.
Describes the ability for two different systems to establish a common data format and structure to share data. Sometimes, the acronym "I14Y" is used as an abbreviation, with 14 replacing the fourteen letters between I and Y. "I14YaaS" would represent "Interoperability as a Service," if anyone were bold enough to use such a delightful term.
The international standards that describe best practices for an information security management system (ISMS) and any information security controls that organizations may choose to implement.
The data format standard used commonly in web-based development.
Redox data models are based on JSON object structures. Learn more about the Redox Data Model API.
The start of a new implementation project when all parties come together to discuss the project and what needs to be done to establish integration. Learn more about doing a kickoff call.
A type of system used for processing, storing, and managing data for lab processes and testing.
A government program that certifies EHR systems and requires health systems, including small provider offices, to implement technology.
An HL7v2 message format that can be used for exchanging notes or documents. MDM-formatted messages may contain plain text, marked up text (e.g., RTF, HTML), or encoded multimedia like PDFs, images, or sound files.
A common type of patient identifier used in EHR systems.
A chart used to track what medications were given to a patient and how it was administered (e.g., swallowed, refused, regurgitated). Learn about the FHIR® resource used to exchange medication administration data via FHIR®.
Refers to a type of data exchange from one system to another. Learn more about data exchange via Redox.
Sending a message via Redox creates a log, which contains details about the exchange. Learn more about logs.
A communications method that can be used for delivering HL7v2 messages.
A diagnostic imaging term that refers to either a specific machine (e.g., MRI machine 123) or a category of machines (e.g., CT, X-ray, MRI, ultrasound).
A council dedicated to creating standards to improve communication within the pharmacy industry.
The acronym "NCPDP" may also refer to an XML-based standard message type that SureScripts and the rest of the pharmacy community use.
A network protocol that means "There was something wrong with the message." Because the tech world can't bear to use full words, this is typically seen in the wild as NAK.
Refers to Redox translating data from one system's data fields, structure, or coding to another's.
An HL7v2 message format that can be used for representing lab or test results data (e.g., radiology). ORU-formatted messages may contain discrete data or text notes.
The department of HHS that enforces federal civil rights laws, conscience and religious freedom laws, HIPAA privacy, security, and breach notification rules, as well as the Patient Safety Act and Rule. Together, these rules protect patients' fundamental rights of nondiscrimination, conscience, religious freedom, and health information privacy.
An integration method that involves connecting directly to a database.
A national organization responsible for overseeing the administration of health IT laws. Explore ONC's mission.
Refers to patients receiving treatment either in a hospital setting or standalone clinic, but not residing in hospital beds.
An HL7v3 message format that can be used to query for patient demographic and visit data. PDQ-formatted messages aren't widely supported within the healthcare community.
A part of the provider's progress note that summarizes the provider's examination of the patient.
A system used for storing radiological imaging data. Learn more about retrieving a patient's data from a PACS.
Refers to an asynchronous integration methodology that relies on one system pushing notifications to another. Events in the source system usually trigger these push notifications.
Redox offers data on demand to support queries when your connection only supports polling or push notifications. Learn more about data on demand.
Any personally identifiable information regarding an individual's physical or mental health, medical services, or payment of related services that a Covered Entity stores.
A type of system used for documenting clinical data related to radiological procedures and tests.
A transfer of care from one provider to another, typically for treating a specialty condition.
In the healthcare context, ROI is the process of making medical records available to parties who requested access.
An architectural paradigm that relies on a client-server framework to enable communication on the World Wide Web. Read this intro on REST for more information.
You may hear that a particular type of communication is RESTful if they're stateless or fit into the create, read, update, delete (CRUD) framework.
A part of the provider's progress note that summarizes the provider's observations of the patient's main systems.
An HL7v2 message format that's used for communicating new, rescheduled, updated, and canceled appointments.
Represents a data exchange method where files are placed in a predefined location on a system's server and picked up at predetermined intervals by another system. SFTP is the secured form of FTP.
An XML-based markup language and open standard for authentication and authorization for data exchange between two parties. Typically, SAML is used within the SSO data model. Learn more about SAML with SSO.
For SSO purposes, a service provider is a vendor or site that someone wants to log into to perform some type of action.
In the Redox world, the Redox dashboard is an example of a service provider. Authentication and user management is handled by the identity provider.
An application protocol used for electronic mail messaging.
A standard communication protocol that allows systems with different operating systems like Linux and Windows to communicate XML messages via HTTP. SOAP-based APIs are designed to create, recover, update, and delete records like accounts, passwords, leads, and custom objects. SOAP is an alternative to REST.
A type of integration that either stores user credentials or communicates patient identity between systems. With Redox, SSO is the launch of one system within the context of another and authorizes access to the user. Learn more about Redox SSO:
A type of healthcare facility that provides care for patients in between acute and home care. These patients are ready for discharge from acute care facilities but still require monitoring and support before going home. So an SNF may provide a stepping stone in patient treatment and provide care over an extended period of time. SNFs may also be called long-term acute care (LTAC) facilities.
Part of an endpoint URL that contains the human-readable safe name for a destination. Keep in mind that a destination must contain these:
- name
- ID
- slug
For a simple breakdown, check out the difference between a slug and a URL.
A communications protocol that works with IP to send data between two disparate systems on a network. Read GeeksforGeeks's article on TCP.
A standardized set of health data classes and constituent data elements for nationwide, interoperable health information exchange. Learn more about USCDI.
The national organization that oversees medical programs, public health, and social services. Learn more about HHS.
An encryption method that allows two systems to exchange data securely and privately. You may see references to a VPN tunnel, which is a way to explain the private pathway for data between two systems. VPN is required for HL7v2 messaging.
If you're using VPN with Redox, learn how to check a VPN status in the Redox dashboard.
Describes event-based messaging sent over HTTP to notify a system of something that's occurred in another system. Webhooks differ from queries or polling, which are initiated by a user in a system. Instead, webhooks are notifications sent to a system when a user indicates which events they want to know about. You may see "webhook" used interchangeably with "notification."
A message format used primarily for exchanging insurance data (e.g., billing, claims, eligibility). Learn how we translate X12 to FHIR®.
FHIR® is a registered trademark of Health Level Seven International (HL7) and is used with the permission of HL7. Use of this trademark does not constitute an endorsement of products/services by HL7®.