ELINCS Specifications
Three versions of ELINCS have been published; the latest is version HL7-R1. See below for the specifications and version change documentation.
HL7 Version 2.5.1 Implementation Guide: Orders and Observations; Ambulatory Care Lab Result (ELINCS), Release 1
The latest version of ELINCS ("ELINCS v.HL7-R1") was approved and published on July 1, 2008, by Health Level Seven (HL7) and is available on the HL7 Web site at www.hl7.org. HL7 is now managing ELINCS and will support subsequent upgrades and revisions. You must be an HL7 member to download the ELINCS HL7 Version 2.5.1 implementation guide.
For information on the recent changes to the ELINCS specification, see the ELINCS v1.1 to HL7R1 Change Summary and ELINCS v1.1 to HL7R1 Change Details under Document Downloads at the bottom of this page.
Version 1.1
ELINCS v1.1 was published in October 2006 as a minor update to v1.0.
The ELINCS v1.1 update includes changes to address three requirements. First, changes were made to the specification as part of a "lessons learned" effort from the v1.0 pilot implementation projects. Second, requirements have been added to support the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) regulations. Finally, corrections and modifications were made to allow true compatibility with future versions of the ELINCS Specification. More information about the changes in ELINCS version 1.1 may be found under Document Downloads below.
Version 1.0
The EHR-Lab Interoperability and Connectivity Specification (ELINCS) project published ELINCS version 1.0 in July 2005. The specification is an HL7 v2.4-based message profile for the reporting of lab results from laboratory information systems to electronic health records (EHRs) in the outpatient setting. The goal of the ELINCS project is to provide precise and generally applicable lab-reporting specifications that can be adopted as an industry standard, thereby obviating the need for clinical laboratories and ambulatory EHR systems to define anew each interface that is implemented.
The ELINCS specification was developed through a collaborative process that involved representatives from EHR vendors, commercial laboratories, hospital lab information system vendors, and government bodies.
IMPORTANT NOTE about Document Downloads below: The latest version of the ELINCS HL7R1 implementation guide is only available for download on the HL7 Web site to HL7 members.