An Elixir library for working with HL7 v2.x healthcare data
Elixir-HL7 provides parsers and data-structures for working with healthcare data that conforms to the HL7 v2.x standards. Elixir-HL7 includes data structures for every HL7 Segment and Datatype defined in HL7 versions 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.3.1, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.5.1. Elixir-HL7 also provides basic support for handling MLLP streams.
You can learn more about HL7 here:
- The official HL7 website (hl7.org)
- Wikipedia's HL7 article
This project is at v0.x for a reason. The API and internals will likely change quite a bit between now and v1.0. Also, be aware of the details of the license (Apache 2.0).
The library should contain every segment and datatype defined in the HL7 standard for each supported HL7 version. We used the XSD files found at hl7.org to build our initial set.
For basic reads we are aiming at tens of thousands of messages per second on a typical developer laptop. We will include more meaningful benchmarks soon.
Non-standard, company-specific data is commonly stored in segments beginning with the letter "Z" such as ZPM (commonly referred to as "Z segments"). Elixir-HL7 stores Z-Segment data as lists of lists in ZSegment structs.
Data for other unknown segments is stored similarly to Z-Segments but in UnknownSegment structs.
Data that overflows the list of fields defined in the specs for segments and datatypes are preserved.
Access data by ordinal positions or nested lists with named structures
[raw hl7 string] <-> [lists of lists] <-> [data structures]
The HL7.Example module provides sample data you can use to explore the API.
iex> raw_hl7 = HL7.Examples.wikipedia_sample_hl7
"MSH|^~&|MegaReg|XYZHospC|SuperOE|XYZImgCtr|20060529090131-0500||ADT^A01^ADT_A01|01052901|P|2.5\rEVN||200605290901||||200605290900\rPID|||56782445^^^UAReg^PI||KLEINSAMPLE^BARRY^Q^JR||19620910|M||2028-9^^HL70005^RA99113^^XYZ|260 GOODWIN CREST DRIVE^^BIRMINGHAM^AL^35209^^M~NICKELL’S PICKLES^10000 W 100TH AVE^BIRMINGHAM^AL^35200^^O|||||||0105I30001^^^99DEF^AN\rPV1||I|W^389^1^UABH^^^^3||||12345^MORGAN^REX^J^^^MD^0010^UAMC^L||67890^GRAINGER^LUCY^X^^^MD^0010^UAMC^L|MED|||||A0||13579^POTTER^SHERMAN^T^^^MD^0010^UAMC^L|||||||||||||||||||||||||||200605290900\rOBX|1|NM|^Body Height||1.80|m^Meter^ISO+|||||F\rOBX|2|NM|^Body Weight||79|kg^Kilogram^ISO+|||||F\rAL1|1||^ASPIRIN\rDG1|1||786.50^CHEST PAIN, UNSPECIFIED^I9|||A\r"
We can take that sample message and create an HL7.Message like so
iex> raw_hl7 |> HL7.Message.new() |> HL7.Message.make_structs()
- Module docs and function docs
- Support adding custom Z-Segments
- Once it's a bit less wobbly, publish to hex.pm
- Property-based tests and StreamData generators for HL7 segments and datatypes
- Support for higher HL7 versions (e.g. HL7 2.8)
- Faster build times
- Simpler name-to-ordinal and ordinal-to-name experience
- API for constructing HL7 messages
Elixir-HL7 source code is released under Apache 2 License. Check LICENSE file for more information.