Standards

The purpose of this Discussion is to explore the different standards  used for medical records and how the records get managed and exchanged  between health care providers or systems that use different standards.  The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards  Committee (ASC) X12 Insurance Subcommittee, the Health Care Task Group,  publishes transactions standards, such as the ANSI X12N Health Care  Claim Payment/Advice (835). Health Level Seven (HL7) is an organization  that creates standards for clinical and administrative data  interoperability.

To prepare for this Discussion, search the Internet for  information on the HIPAA EDI, HL7, and other standards as might be  found at ASC X12 , Health Level Seven (HL7) and Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA)

For this Discussion, answer the following questions:

• Compare and contrast the 835, 837, 270, and 275 EDI standards in terms of similarities and differences.
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of HL7?
• What challenges, in terms of interoperability, are presented by using different standards?
• Consider a patient who has seen a general  practitioner, a specialist, and has been to the hospital. How can all of  the patient's records be shared in real-time if they are encoded and  managed discretely?
• Why might a business unit in a medical setting choose to use one standard over another?
• Choose a business unit and recommend a standard to use. Justify your recommendation.

Illustrate your points in the context of a patient's visit to a health care provider.