HL7 Tutorials

HL7 Tutorials

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Background

HL7 is a messaging standard that helps clinical applications exchange healthcare information. This is a series of articles on this standard that I have been working on slowly, and my goal is to enable a beginner to understand the basics quickly when needing to be part of a healthcare-related technology initiative, especially when it comes to developing custom software applications involving HL7-related message exchange.

If you work with HL7, FHIR or DICOM and want to compare notes with other engineers doing the same, join the discussion in my LinkedIn group on healthcare interoperability engineering - questions, war stories and sample messages welcome.

Overview Tutorials

HL7 v2 Explained: The Messaging Standard Still Running Every Hospital in 2026

HL7 V3 Standard - A High-Level Overview

DICOM Explained: How Medical Images Are Stored, Moved and Shared in 2026

Overview of IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise)

Use of Coded Vocabularies and Nomenclatures in HL7 and DICOM

Basics of FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources)

HIPAA and Regulatory Compliance for Healthcare

SOC Reports and their role in Healthcare

GDPR - An Overview for Software Developers

HL7 Programming with Java

01 HL7 Programming using Java - A Short Tutorial 02 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Parsing Operations 03 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Creating HL7 Messages 04 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Using Tersers 05 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Handling Binary Data 06 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Message Validation 07 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Conformance Profiles and Testing 08 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Sending HL7 Messages 09 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Receiving HL7 Messages 10 HL7 Programming using Java and HAPI - Creating ACK Messages

FHIR Programming with Java

01 Basics of FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) 02 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Setting Up Your Environment 03 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Reading FHIR Resources 04 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Creating FHIR Resources 05 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Updating FHIR Resources 06 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Deleting FHIR Resources 07 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Searching FHIR Resources 08 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Validating FHIR Resources 09 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Chaining FHIR Operations 10 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Advanced Topics (including Security) 11 Building a SMART on FHIR App in Java: A Step-by-Step Guide 12 FHIR Programming using Java and HAPI FHIR Server - Working with Canadian FHIR Profiles

HL7 Programming with .NET

01 HL7 Programming using .NET - A Short Tutorial 02 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Parsing Operations 03 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Creating HL7 Messages 04 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Using Tersers 05 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Handling Binary Data 06 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Message Validation 07 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Advanced Message Validation using NHAPI Tools 08 HL7 Programming using .NET - Additional Tools for HL7 Message Validation 09 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Sending HL7 Messages 10 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Receiving HL7 Messages 11 HL7 Programming using .NET and NHAPI - Creating ACK Messages

FHIR Programming with .NET

01 Basics of FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) 02 An Introduction to FHIR for .NET Developers: Available Libraries and Frameworks 03 FHIR Programming using .NET - Setting Up Your Environment 04 FHIR Programming using .NET - Reading FHIR Resources 05 FHIR Programming using .NET - Creating FHIR Resources 06 FHIR Programming using .NET - Updating FHIR Resources 07 FHIR Programming using .NET - Deleting FHIR Resources 08 FHIR Programming using .NET - Searching FHIR Resources 09 FHIR Programming using .NET - Validating FHIR Resources 10 FHIR Programming using .NET - Chaining FHIR Operations 11 FHIR Programming using .NET - Advanced Topics (including Security) 12 Building a SMART on FHIR App in .NET: A Step-by-Step Guide 13 FHIR Programming using .NET - Working with Canadian FHIR Profiles

Interactive Learning

Test Your Knowledge

Challenge yourself with our comprehensive HL7 quiz to reinforce your understanding of healthcare messaging standards.

Development Tools & SDKs

HL7 Soup - HL7 Viewer and Editor

HAPI Java HL7 Toolkit

NHAPI .NET HL7 Toolkit

NHAPI Tools

HAPI HL7 Test Panel - Open Source Tool for HL7 V2 troubleshooting

7Edit - A Commercial Tool for HL7 V2 troubleshooting

Useful Organizations

HL7 Main Site

DICOM Home Page

IHE Home Page

Disclaimer

I want to make a disclaimer about these articles. I do not serve on the HL7 standards committee. Therefore, I must caution you to take the information provided here with a grain of salt, and ultimately refer to the standard itself and its latest recommendations before starting any project involving the standard. For more information about the standard, you can contact your regional affiliate, or visit its main site here.