Question: v3 development resources

Oct 2, 2013

Question

I am attempting to develop an implementation of the hl7v3 standard in PHP (specifically the CDA messaging portion) for MU2 certification.  I have been searching various sites and have downloaded the RIM specs (rim0241c.zip).  My problem is the mif seems to be somewhat proprietary, and the UML versions won’t open in any UML tool that I have tried (all error out).  Where can I get a decent view of the models / model structure so that I can create a useful and meaningful implementation (so far the RIM.png is all I can find)?

Answer:

You need the full v3 specification, which includes a number of processible resources - at least, that is, what’s possible to provide given the way v3 works.

You can get it here: http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/product_brief.cfm?product_id=306

Seriously, the MIF is your best option. Sure, it’s proprietary (more than somewhat) - but that’s what there is. And there is a MIF for CDA. See more about the MIF here: http://vimeo.com/1742299

But why do all this? for CDA? It’s just overkill - all stuff you ain’t ever going to need. Just do CDA - it’s about 2 orders less complex than all of v3. Like building a bulldozer so you can plant a single flower….  Use the schema, and go from there.