Implementing e-health systems using restful web services

Currently, most of the hospital information systems (HIS) are custom developed information systems and recently they are being slowly converted into some standards? based software systems, such as HL7-complaint (Health Level 7) HIS. Sooner or later all systems need to convert their Electronic Health Records (EHR) into these standards due to the fact that systems need to share data and services to better serve the customer, workers, and all parties involved in healthcare, and also to lower the cost of medical care.The purpose of this study is to develop a web-based HIS based on standard EHR. This web-based system should rely not only on the institution?s specific business structure but also has a dynamic structure to adapt to new innovations and being interoperable with other electronic health systems such as national health or international health care applications, or other applications. By these improvements, the quality of health process lifecycle for healthcare workers and patients will be increased.In the scope of this study, the messaging and content standard HL7 will be used. The system is developed using Web 2.0 standards and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach where data and processes are accessed via web services. Web services in the system are developed using a RESTful approach where EHR items are accessed and manipulated via simple HTTP commands. At the end of the work, a demonstration of a patient follow-up management prototype implementation will be shown.Key words: HL7, EHR, RESTful, HIS