A New Comment From Dr Andrew McIntyre That Was a Bit Big to Post.

Another contribution to the ongoing debate - posted with permission. The original is here: http://blog.medical-objects.com.au/?p=81 Australian eHealth still at the Cross Roads! Its interesting that there is such a emphasis on xml as the solution when its just an encoding format. I implemented HL7V2 (classic) HL7V2 (xml) functionality about 7 years ago but have found no real world use cases or demand for it as all it does is bloat the message for little advantage. If xml was the critical factor this should be in demand. It is the functional models that are important and the encoding of the data should be pushed down to a lower level of the software functionality, and is not a critical factor in success. CDA gives us a xml document format and easier mechanisms of dealing with hierarchical data. It provides no messaging functionality at all so would need to be encapsulated in HL7V2 messages or a new layer of messaging functionality provided. Hierarchical data can be encoded in...

This is the initial part of the post - read more by clicking on the title of the article. David.