Product RIM

Product Brief - Reference Information Model (RIM)

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Product Name

Reference Information Model (RIM)

Standard Category

Health Information Modeling Standards

Type

Normative, ANSI Standard

Releases

• ANSI/HL7 V3 RIM, R1-2003

Summary

The Reference Information Model (RIM) is the cornerstone of the HL7 Version 3 development process. It is the combined consensus view of information from the perspective of the HL7 working group and the global HL7 affiliates. The RIM is the ultimate source from which all HL7 Version 3 protocol specification standards draw their information-related content.

Description

The RIM is a static model of health and healthcare information as viewed within the scope of HL7 standards development activities. It is an object model and graphically represents the clinical data (domains) and identifies the life cycle of events that a message or groups of related messages will carry. As a shared model between all the domains and the model from which all domains create their messages, the RIM is essential to HL7’s ongoing mission of increasing precision of data. The RIM became an ANSI-approved standard in late 2003 and was published as an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard in September 2006.

The RIM provides a static view of the information needs of HL7 Version 3 standards. It includes class and state-machine diagrams and is accompanied by use case models, interaction models, data type models, terminology models, and other types of models to provide a complete view of the requirements and design of HL7 standards. The classes, attributes, state-machines, and relationships in the RIM are used to derive domain-specific information modelsthat are then transformed through a series of constraining refinement processes to eventually yield a static model of the information content of an HL7 standard.

The HL7 Version 3 standard development process defines the rules governing the derivation of domain information models from the RIM and the refinement of those models into HL7 standard specifications. The rules require that all information structures in derived models be traceable back to the RIM and that their semantic and related business rules not conflict with those specified in the RIM. Therefore, the RIM is the ultimate source for all information content in HL7 Version 3 standards.

The RIM is used by HL7 affiliates to extend HL7 Version 3 standards to meet local needs. Through a process known as localization, Version 3 standard specifications are extended using the RIM as the source for new information content. This new information is derived from the RIM and refined in the same manner used to create the original specification.

Explicitly representing the connections that exist between the information carried in the fields of HL7 messages, the RIM is essential to HL7’s ongoing mission of increasing precision and reducing implementation costs.

Please note that the Reference Information Model is updated on a quarterly basis, with minimal changes.

Resources

Education

• Introduction to Version 3, Part 1: Fundamentals
• See more at http://www.hl7.org/implement/training.cfm

Certification Available

• RIM Certified Specialist