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HL7 FHIR, the Future of Health Information Exchange?

A next-generation standards framework developed by HL7, FHIR is described as such on the HL7 website. The best aspects of HL7’s v2, v3, and CDA product lines are combined in FHIR, which also makes use of the most recent web standards and places a strong emphasis on implementation.


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Reima Budd

a year ago | 2 min read

Health Level 7 International is an association that calls itself a non profit organization, ANSI-accredited standards developing organization devoted to creating a thorough structure and standards set for the exchange, incorporation, sharing, and retrieval of digital health data that endorses clinical practice and the management, delivery, and evaluation of health services.

A next-generation standards framework developed by HL7, FHIR is described as such on the HL7 website. The best aspects of HL7’s v2, v3, and CDA product lines are combined in FHIR, which also makes use of the most recent web standards and places a strong emphasis on implementation.

Do you wonder what’s the difference between HL7 and FHIR? The core development technologies are the fundamental distinction between HL7 and FHIR. FHIR depends on open web technologies like JSON and RDF data formats as well as RESTful web services. FHIR reduces the learning curve for developers because they are already familiar with these technologies, allowing them to start working more immediately.

The “Resources” of FHIR and How They Help the Provider

FHIR is essentially an effective mechanism for healthcare professionals to communicate data about patients in a range of settings, including in-patient, ambulatory, acute, long-term, community, allied health, etc. The implementation of FHIR through its Resources is the aspect of it that matters the most to providers. The resources are comparable to “paper ‘forms’ indicating various types of medical and administrative data that can be gathered and shared,” as stated on their website. Each Resource or “form” is assigned a template by FHIR.

Why is FHIR important?

Data was locked in proprietary structures for many years. Providers, payers, and patients frequently had to revert to outdated, time-consuming techniques to transmit information, such as faxing chart notes or physically transferring paper-based records. Or systems had to transmit whole papers to answer a doctor’s demand for specific health information. Doctors have to search through entire paperwork to find a single piece of information, which drains them and takes lots of time. Luckily, each Resource can be provided using FHIR without the whole clinical record. This enables a quicker and significantly more effective interchange of health information.

Why is HL7 FHIR the future of health information exchange?

Sharing data is made easier, implementation is greatly simplified, and mobile apps are support FHIR better. Additionally, it provides crucial use cases that are advantageous to patients, payers, and providers.

To expedite decision-making, physicians can exchange patient data more effectively among teams. Medical data can be added to claims data by insurance companies to enhance risk assessment, reduce costs, and enhance outcomes. Additionally, patients can have more influence over their health by getting access to medical data via user-friendly apps that operate on smartphones, tablets, and wearables.

What makes FHIR different from the rest of the previous standards?

Although FHIR differs from earlier standards in numerous ways, there are two fundamental distinctions that make it so remarkable:

Security: TLS/SSL encryption is necessary for any production health data exchanged over FHIR. This makes it significantly safer than earlier HL7 standards.

Resources: FHIR makes use of uniform data components and formats, also referred to as “Resources.” The lowest feasible transactional unit in FHIR is a Resource, which provides significant data through a known identity.

FHIR can be used in a wide range of situations, such as mobile apps, cloud communications, data sharing based on electronic health records, server communication in large institutional healthcare providers, and more. Open source, cost-free, scalable, and adaptable summarize FHIR.

Source - https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2022/10/04/hl7-fhir-the-future-of-health-information-exchange/

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