HL7 ADT MessagesThe contents of this whitepaper are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. Summary
HL7 ADT messages (Admission, Discharge and Transfer) are a group of messages as defined in the HL7 version 2.x messaging standard.
The focus of ADT messages is to convey data related to patient demographics and/or to healthcare encounters (visits).
ADT messages are implemented by almost all software applications in a hospital setting.
1. IntroductionThe HL7 version 2 standard has the aim to support hospital internal workflows. Each of the chapters of the HL7 standard covers a different subset of the overall workflow: chapter 3 (ADT) supports workflows that require the exchange of patient demographics and/or encounter information.Chapter 3 (ADT) defines a number of message structures and trigger events.
2. Trigger EventsA trigger event is the underlying reason for transmitting a message, e.g. �Patient has been admitted to the hospital�, �Patient address has changed�, or �Patient has moved from room 23 to room 29�. As soon as a trigger happens, a message is sent to all systems that have an interest in that particular type of information, enabling the receiving application to synchronize it�s database with the data as known by the sender of the message.Examples of ADT trigger events (coded A01 up to A62) include:
![]() 3. Message StructureThe message structure may vary depending on the trigger event. A trigger event related to the �transfer of a patient� has a different structure than a �change of a person�s address�, or a �merge two patient records�. The following segments (in HL7 version 2 all messages are comprised of multiple segments) are of core importance in this chapter:
4. SummaryHL7 ADT messages (Admission, Discharge and Transfer) are implemented by almost all applications used within a hospital setting. The ADT trigger events typically occur in the administrative system of the hospital (Hospital Information System - HIS or Patient Administrative System - PAS). The resulting messages are sent to all ancillary systems enabling them to synchronize their application database with the latest information as available in the main administrative system.
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