A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the World Wide Web.
In the healthcare community Web-Services are becoming a common way to communicate with entities outside of the network. Many Health Information Exchanges (HIE), and Immunization Registries have setup Web-Services for healthcare providers to send CCD’s and Immunization records (VXU messages) to the registry.
A Web-Service can be thought of as a general term for the communication protocol used to deliver data to another entity using the World Wide Web. A Web-Service extends the functionality of the HTTP/HTTPS protocols using other protocols like SOAP, WSDL, and REST based web services. Please see the other QIE knowledge base articles on these other protocols.
The Centricity Service Layer and the IHE Profiles are specific predefined Web-Services for communicating with Centricity and HIE/Immunization registries.
