The following information should be recorded in the site database:

1. The number of outgoing interfaces at each site. For each outgoing interface the following information should be recorded:

• IP address/host and port number to send to.
• System name to send to - e.g. Meditech, Cerner Millenium, Star HBOC, etc.
• Types of messages being sent - e.g. ADT^A01, etc.
• Typical daily volume of messages.

2. The number of incoming interfaces at each site. For each incoming interface the following information should be recorded:

• Port number.
• System name receiving from - e.g. Meditech, Cerner Millenium, Star HBOC, etc.
• Types of messages supported - e.g. ADT^A01, etc.
• Typical daily volume of messages.

3. Large sample of real HL7 data for the site. One issue with storing real HL7 data are the privacy issues associated with HIPAA.

There are three possible solutions:

• Restrict who has access to the data within the organization.
• Use Chameleon with scripted transformation to scrub confidential data from these HL7 samples.
• Try and only have test data (as opposed to real data) from each site. Some sites will be organized in this area. Others will not or have test data which is inconsistent with their real live data.

4. Do they have a maintenance contract? Highly recommended.

5. A list of any site-specific issues should be maintained for future reference. It's nice if this database can be integrated with an email database.

6. Main interface contact person for the site.

7. Remote access procedures and information on the upgrade policy of the site. Some larger hospitals can make this difficult.

• It will greatly reduce the costs for an organization if a standard means of remotely accessing each site can be developed. It is a good idea to make this part of the contract for a customer to buy an HL7 interface - if the customer does not then give remote access or requires a non standard means of doing so then the contract should be default require extra payment to cover the additional cost in time.

8. The VMD files associated with this site.