Martin Heller
Contributing Writer

HIPAA and HL7: a correction

analysis
Mar 5, 20091 min

HIPAA 5010 is still based on X12 EDI. HL7 3.x is XML-based. Is the whole subject confusing?

In HIPAA, EDI, HL7, ICD, and DataDirect I made a small error that I’d like to correct, now that two knowledgeable readers have pointed it out to me.

HIPAA 5010 is still based on X12 EDI. HL7 3.x is XML-based.

Was I confused? Yes.

Is the whole subject confusing? You tell me. While you’re at it, tell me how you think it could be clarified. After all, the standardized health care information formats are supposed to grease the skids, not gum them up.

Ditto for XBRL: Is it too confusing? How could it be clarified?

Martin Heller

Martin Heller is a contributing writer at InfoWorld. Formerly a web and Windows programming consultant, he developed databases, software, and websites from his office in Andover, Massachusetts, from 1986 to 2010. From 2010 to August of 2012, Martin was vice president of technology and education at Alpha Software. From March 2013 to January 2014, he was chairman of Tubifi, maker of a cloud-based video editor, having previously served as CEO.

Martin is the author or co-author of nearly a dozen PC software packages and half a dozen Web applications. He is also the author of several books on Windows programming. As a consultant, Martin has worked with companies of all sizes to design, develop, improve, and/or debug Windows, web, and database applications, and has performed strategic business consulting for high-tech corporations ranging from tiny to Fortune 100 and from local to multinational.

Martin’s specialties include programming languages C++, Python, C#, JavaScript, and SQL, and databases PostgreSQL, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, Google Cloud Spanner, CockroachDB, MongoDB, Cassandra, and Couchbase. He writes about software development, data management, analytics, AI, and machine learning, contributing technology analyses, explainers, how-to articles, and hands-on reviews of software development tools, data platforms, AI models, machine learning libraries, and much more.

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