Reader Channel for Healthcare Databases

Folio3 also offers an open platform and archive for developing and exchanging Folio3 platforms. A Folio3 channel is a message routing, filtering, and transformation interface that sends messages from one source to one or more destinations. For more complex logic, these channels can be chained together. Sharing channels allows members of the healthcare IT group to learn from the work of others and reduces the redundancy that currently exists in processes that require each organisation to create data mappings between systems. The healthcare IT culture is used to a closed and proprietary structure, so an ideology that emphasises sharing and openness is a significant step forward. This transparent, community-based approach has been shown to accelerate progress in other fields, and it is now available in healthcare for the first time.

Healthcare and Connectivity Standards that are Supported

Folio3 supports HL7 for the exchange, incorporation, distribution, and retrieval of electronic health information, DICOM for medical imaging, X12 for electronic data transfer, NCPDP for pharmacy data, and XML for information flow for lab reports, medical records, radiology data, transcription data, claims data, and so on. The following sections go through these requirements in greater detail.

The following are examples of supported healthcare data standards:

Health Level 7 (HL7 v2 & v3) is a generally accepted standard for sharing healthcare data between applications and systems. Here’s where you can learn more.

DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine, and it is a standard that allows imaging devices and systems to communicate and share images.

Comparison of Projects

Despite the fact that Folio3 is in a very unique area of open source software (OSS) integration engines that focus on healthcare, there are others in the same domain. JEngine is another Java-based open source enterprise integration engine. JEngine is installed within the JBoss application server and configures interfaces using XML configuration files and BeanShell. JEngine was last updated in October of 2003, which was more than 5 years ago.

ChainBuilder is a free and open-source integration engine with its own Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). The Java Business Integration (JBI) compliant ChainBuilder ESB components support common protocols and the parsing of healthcare standards such as HL7 and X12. Plugins for the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) are used to configure interfaces, and getting started can require some prior development experience.

XAware is a recently open-sourced Spring-based integration engine. XAware, like ChainBuilder, creates and deploys interfaces via plugins using the Eclipse IDE. XAware is a generic integration engine that supports multiple endpoints and protocols, including X12, despite not being explicitly targeted at healthcare.

Folio3’s ease of use sets it apart from other rivals and open source software. Folio3 can be downloaded, enabled, and configured in minutes to have a custom interface running. Any device can be configured to receive and/or send HL7 and many other healthcare standards with a few easy measures. Despite being open source, Folio3 is commonly regarded as having features comparable to commercial healthcare integration engine. Folio3 currently has over 50,000 downloads and is widely regarded as one of the most competitive healthcare integration engines.

The global health information technology group has embraced the synthesis of open source and a standards-based approach to healthcare interoperability. Folio3 is a welcome addition to healthcare executives’ toolkits because it has features comparable to commercial tools, speeds up interface creation, and is professionally supported. Folio3 has been embraced by a variety of hospitals, clinics, knowledge exchanges, integrators, and application developers as a result.

WebReach is also developing additional and complementary open source infrastructure building blocks to increase Folio3. For example, we’re working on an open source Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) that can be used to decipher patient identities across a variety of healthcare apps, systems, and organizations.