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Section 1b: EHR - Electronic Health Records
Section 1e: Version 3 (V3)
Section 2: Clinical and Administrative Domains
Section 3: Implementation Guides
Section 4: Rules and References

HL7 Version 3 Standard: Common Terminology Services (CTS), Release 1

DESCRIPTION

The HL7 International Common Terminology Services (HL7 CTS) defines an Application Programming Interface (API) that can be used by HL7 Version 3 software when accessing terminological content. It is intended to specify only the unique services needed in the HL7 implementation. CTS does not state how the service is to be implemented. It is intentionally silent when it comes to service publishing and discovery, establishing and maintaining connections, and the delivery and routing of messages. It is presumed that a CTS implementation will use the underlying architecture that is most appropriate for the given implementation circumstances.

ALTERNATIVE NAMES

HL7 Version 3 Standard: Common Terminology Services (CTS), Release 1 may also go by the following names or acronyms:

"V3 Common Terminology Services, Release 1", "V3 Common Terminology Services, R1", CTS PIM, CTS

TARGETS

  • Terminology Service Users and Providers

BENEFITS

  • Software can be written once without the need to understand each terminology vendors database and/or API
  • Hides much of the complexity inherent in modern terminology systems.
  • Basic functional requirements for terminology services are clearly specified
  • Implementation can be based on existing databases and software

IMPLEMENTATIONS/CASE STUDIES

  • Apelon, Inc.
  • Intel SOA Expressway for Healthcare
  • Mayo Clinic - Wrapper over LexEVS, and MS access for HL7
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vocabulary Server

DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND

The CTS specification was developed as an alternative to requiring a common data structure. Instead of describing what an external terminology must look like, HL7 has chosen to identify the common functional characteristics that an external terminology must be able to provide. As an example, an HL7 compliant terminology service will need to be able to determine whether a given concept code is valid within the particular resource. Rather than describing a table keyed by the resource identifier and concept code, the CTS describes an API call that takes a resource identifier and concept code as input and returns a true/false value.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

HL7 Version 3 Standard: Common Terminology Services (CTS), Release 1

(Download) (524 KB)

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

The standard is also available as part of the Health Level Seven Version 3 (V3) Normative Edition. See the HL7 Version 3 Product Suite for downloads. The current Normative Edition is also available online to members.

TOPIC

  • Terminology

BALLOT TYPES

  • Normative

STATUS DATE

2005-04-21

RESPONSIBLE WORK GROUP

Services Oriented Architecture

PRODUCT TYPES

  • ANSI-approved
  • Services

FAMILY

  • V3

CURRENT STATE

  • Retired

REALM

  • Universal