Automatic transformation of HL7 v3 information models into equivalent UML models

The Health Level 7 (HL7) v3 standard provides information models for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information. Those models are defined in a graphical modeling language other than the UML standard. It involves the development of new tools and the need for specific training in order to support and understand the particularities within HL7 v3 models. We propose an automatic transformation process to obtain UML-compliant models from the MIF representation of the HL7 v3 models within the healthcare standard. The adoption of common UML models benefits the usage of existing modeling tools in the field of model-driven development such as code generators, model validators, and graphical visualizers, among others. We have tested our transformation approach with the models of the HL7 v3 2009 normative edition. The resulting UML models maintain the same semantics as the original v3 models but making use of standard and well-known UML elements. Keywords-HL7 v3, UML, M2M, model transformation