MSH.5/6 on ACK message

[Rick Martin]

Can someone confirm that it is standard HL7 practice on an ACK message to return MSH.5/6 populated with the values from MSH.3/4 from the original message?

I have a vendor (GE) who seems to think this is strange behavior.  The MSH segment in their ACK message is created anew and bears no resemblence to the original message.

Topic

[David Caragay]

Normally I would expect to see them reply back by moving the MSH sending app/facility to the receiving app/facility.

[Jim Kosloskey]

Rick,

If I were you I would insist the vendor follow the standard. The ack should indicate the the proper systems and applications. I typically also want them to put in a unique Control-ID in the MSH.

Also the MSA segment should reflect the Control-ID that was sent in the message they are acknowledging (you did provide a unique Control-ID in the MSH you sent them didn’t you?).

With the above information, you can adequately trouble shoot questions about whether the GE app received any particular message.

Remember, after the vendor is done, YOU have to live with the results – and they already have your money.

Jim Kosloskey

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

[Rick Martin]

I found the reference in the standard HL7 specification Chapter 2 (2.12.1.2.1) relating to acknowledgement messages:

“The MSH segment in the response is constructed anew following the rules used to create the initial message described above.  In particular, MSH-7-date/time of message and MSH-10-message control ID refer to the response message; they are not echoes of the fields in the initial message.  MSH-5-receiving application, MSH-6-receiving facility, and MSH-11-processing ID contain codes that are copied from MSH-3-sending applica

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