Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources

Standard for electronic exchange of healthcare information

The FHIR logo

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a standard for exchanging healthcare information electronically. It was created by the HL7 organization and is designed to enable the exchange of healthcare data between different systems regardless of their underlying technology. FHIR is built on modern web standards and is intended to be easy to implement.

Overview

FHIR is designed to facilitate interoperability between legacy healthcare systems and modern applications. It uses a set of "resources" that represent granular clinical concepts, such as a patient, a medication, or a diagnostic report. These resources can be combined to create complex clinical documents or messages.

FHIR is based on a RESTful architecture, which means it uses standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. This makes it compatible with a wide range of web technologies and allows developers to use familiar tools and techniques to build FHIR-based applications.

Key Features

Resources

FHIR resources are the building blocks of the standard. Each resource is a small, discrete unit of information that can be used independently or combined with other resources. Examples of resources include:

• Patient
• Observation
• Medication
• Procedure

Each resource has a standard structure and a unique identifier, which allows it to be easily referenced and retrieved.

Interoperability

FHIR is designed to be highly interoperable, allowing different healthcare systems to exchange data seamlessly. It supports multiple data formats, including JSON and XML, and can be used with a variety of transport protocols, such as HTTP, HTTPS, and SMTP.

Extensibility

FHIR is highly extensible, allowing developers to create custom resources or extend existing ones to meet specific needs. This flexibility makes it possible to adapt FHIR to a wide range of healthcare environments and use cases.

Security

FHIR includes built-in support for security and privacy, including mechanisms for authentication, authorization, and encryption. This ensures that sensitive healthcare data is protected during transmission and storage.

Implementation

A graph showing the relationships between different FHIR resources

FHIR can be implemented in a variety of ways, depending on the needs of the organization. Some common implementation strategies include:

• Direct integration: Integrating FHIR directly into existing healthcare systems to enable data exchange.
• Middleware solutions: Using middleware to translate between FHIR and other data formats or standards.
• Third-party applications: Developing or using third-party applications that are built on FHIR to provide additional functionality.

Adoption

FHIR has been widely adopted by healthcare organizations around the world. It is supported by major electronic health record (EHR) vendors and is used in a variety of healthcare settings, from hospitals to clinics to research institutions.

Related pages

• Health Level Seven International
• Electronic health record
• Interoperability (computer science)
• Health informatics