Healthcare Interoperability: HL7, FHIR & DICOM Integration in Bangladesh
No hospital runs a single system. There is a HIS from one vendor, modalities and analyzers from several manufacturers, an insurer's portal, a group head office. Interoperability is what lets them share one patient's data without re-typing. EMSL builds its own platform on open standards — HL7, FHIR, DICOM and DICOMweb — and offers the same integration capability to hospitals and vendors in Bangladesh that need systems to talk to each other.
What the HL7 · FHIR platform does
- ◆HL7 v2 messaging — patient administration (ADT), orders (ORM) and results (ORU) between HIS, LIS, RIS and third-party systems
- ◆FHIR REST APIs for resources such as Patient, Encounter, Observation and DiagnosticReport
- ◆DICOM and DICOMweb for imaging — modality connections, Modality Worklist, Query/Retrieve, WADO-RS, QIDO-RS and STOW-RS
- ◆Laboratory analyzer interfacing — bidirectional ASTM and HL7 over serial and TCP/IP
- ◆REST and web-service APIs for portals, mobile apps and third-party applications
- ◆Message logging and error handling on every interface
- ◆Integration of EMSL modules with an existing HIS, RIS, LIS or PACS from another vendor
- ◆Data migration from legacy systems during a replacement
Standards, not custom cables
Every interface EMSL builds uses a published standard, so it can be documented, tested against the other vendor's conformance statement, and maintained when either side upgrades.
Imaging, clinical and laboratory — one team
The same engineers connect a CT scanner over DICOM, a chemistry analyzer over ASTM and a third-party HIS over HL7, which is what a real hospital integration needs.
Vendors welcome
Equipment suppliers and software companies integrate with EMSL systems through documented HL7, FHIR, DICOM and REST interfaces, with EMSL's team supporting the work.
Built for mixed-vendor hospitals
Designed around the environments typical of hospitals in Bangladesh — several generations of equipment, more than one software vendor, and a head office that needs one view.
HL7 · FHIR in detail
What each standard is for
Healthcare interoperability is not one standard but several, each covering a different kind of data:
- HL7 v2 — the workhorse of hospital messaging: admissions, transfers and discharges, orders and results, charges. Almost every HIS, LIS and RIS speaks it.
- FHIR — the modern web API standard for the same information, expressed as REST resources. Used for portals, mobile apps, national reporting and newer systems.
- DICOM and DICOMweb — medical images and the services around them: storage, query and retrieve, Modality Worklist, and web access through WADO-RS, QIDO-RS and STOW-RS.
- ASTM — the protocol most laboratory analyzers use to receive orders and send results; newer analyzers also offer HL7.
Typical integration scenarios
EMSL PACS and viewer behind a third-party HIS: orders and patient administration arrive over HL7, the Modality Worklist is generated from them, and reports return to the HIS.
EMSL HIS and LIS with the hospital's existing analyzers: each analyzer is connected over ASTM or HL7 so results flow straight into the LIS.
A hospital group consolidating branches that run different systems into one head-office view through HL7 and FHIR feeds.
Patient-facing apps and portals reading appointments, results and reports through FHIR and REST APIs.
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