INDACO.ONE / Knowledge Centre / HL7

Standard

HL7

HL7 (Health Level Seven) is the standards organisation, and the family of standards, that defines how clinical and administrative health information is structured and exchanged between systems.

A family, not a single standard

HL7 is best understood as a lineage. HL7 v2, decades old and still carrying an enormous share of real-world hospital messaging, is text-based and pragmatic. CDA introduced structured clinical documents. FHIR is the modern, API-native member of the family.

They coexist. This is not untidiness — it reflects the reality that hospital systems have long lifespans and are replaced slowly.

Why legacy standards still matter

A platform that only speaks the newest standard will meet institutions that do not yet speak it. Interoperability in practice means meeting systems where they are, not where the specification would prefer them to be.

For any software intending to connect an ecosystem rather than replace it, tolerance for older interfaces is not technical debt. It is a requirement of the job.

How INDACO.ONE approaches it

The platform is designed to connect through the HL7 family — with FHIR as the primary, modern interface — and normalises what it receives into one internal data model. The objective is that connecting a new source extends the platform rather than fragmenting it.

Related concepts

INDACO.ONE is a software-only Connected Care Intelligence Platform. It is not a diagnostic device and does not diagnose, treat or replace clinical judgment. It supports understanding, coordination and longitudinal insight under human oversight.