What is an integration engine in a hospital setting?

An integration engine (such as Rhapsody, Mirth Connect, or InterSystems HealthShare) is the ‘nervous system’ of a digital hospital. It routes HL7v2 messages between clinical systems — handling ADT messages for patient flow, order messages for test requests, result messages from labs, document messages like discharge summaries, and medication messages to pharmacy. If it fails, systems become disconnected and patient safety is at risk.