December 21, 2006
In a move that will likely make electronic health records (EHR) more widely adopted, California HealthCare Foundation is reporting that Health Level Seven (HL7) will begin a process to adopt and maintain the EHR-Lab Interoperability and Connectivity Specifications (ELINCS).
ELINCS is a data format that enables standardized lab results reporting between clinical laboratories and clinician office EHR systems. Several lab and EHR vendors will demonstrate ELINCS at the Interoperability Showcase at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in New Orleans in late February and the format will be part of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise’s (IHE) Connectathon in Chicago.
ELINCS was developed by experts from commercial labs, electronic health record vendors, government agencies, professional associations, and nonprofit organizations. ELINCS standardizes the formatting and coding of electronic lab results and has been proposed by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) as a certification criterion for ambulatory EHRs. After the adoption process is completed, HL7 will assume responsibility for the ongoing maintenance and further development of ELINCS.
