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change data capture

cdc
technology·Updated Jul 6, 2026

Definition

ISO-11179 Definition

A data integration technique that identifies and captures changes — inserts, updates, and deletes — made to source system databases and streams those changes to downstream data pipelines in near real-time, without requiring full table scans. In healthcare data engineering, CDC is used to replicate EHR, claims, and eligibility system changes into data warehouses with minimal latency, typically implemented using database transaction log reading tools such as Debezium, AWS DMS, or native Snowflake streams.

Standard Abbreviation

cdc

Category

technology

Production DDL — DIM_SYSTEM

DIM_SYSTEM.sql
CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE DIM_SYSTEM (
    sys_key         INTEGER       NOT NULL  -- surrogate key,
    sys_id          VARCHAR(50)   NOT NULL  -- system identifier,
    sys_nm          VARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL  -- system name,
    sys_type_cd     VARCHAR(50)             -- system type code,
    sys_vrsn        VARCHAR(50)             -- system version,
    vndr_nm         VARCHAR(200)            -- vendor name,
    intfc_type_cd   VARCHAR(50)             -- interface type code,
    intfc_proto_cd  VARCHAR(20)             -- interface protocol,
    env_cd          VARCHAR(20)             -- environment code,
    host_nm         VARCHAR(200)            -- hostname,
    ip_addr         VARCHAR(45)             -- IP address,
    sts_cd          VARCHAR(20)             -- status code,
    eff_dt          DATE          NOT NULL  -- effective date,
    exp_dt          DATE                    -- expiration date,
    rec_creat_dt    TIMESTAMP     NOT NULL  -- record created date
);

Standard Snowflake DDL for the canonical technology table. Convert to BigQuery or Databricks →

Why This Term Matters

Healthcare data terminology is foundational for any data engineer working in this industry. Precise understanding of standard terms enables accurate schema design, reduces downstream data quality issues, and ensures pipelines meet the regulatory and interoperability requirements imposed by HIPAA, HL7 FHIR, and CMS reporting frameworks. Without this foundation, even technically well-built pipelines produce data that fails validation when it reaches payers or regulators.

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