Practical guide
Healthcare integration planning: seven questions before connecting systems
An interface succeeds when the receiving workflow can understand, trust and act on the information—not merely when a message is delivered.
Define the business event
State what triggers the exchange, which system is authoritative and what the recipient must do next. Include corrections, cancellations, duplicates and late-arriving information. A technical success response does not necessarily mean the workflow completed correctly.
Define meaning and identity
Agree on identifiers, code systems, field definitions and how patients, providers, locations and organizations are matched. HL7 and FHIR provide exchange frameworks, but implementation agreements still need precise local definitions and testing.
Design operations and governance
Assign monitoring, privacy, security, support and change-management responsibilities. Ontario Health publishes provincial digital standards, while Canada Health Infoway supports pan-Canadian interoperability work. Confirm which current standards apply to the specific service.