What Is FHIR in Healthcare?

What Is FHIR in Healthcare?

What is FHIR in healthcare?

FHIR is a modern standard for exchanging healthcare data between systems. It defines a common way to describe and share things like patients, medications, and lab results, so different health software can actually talk to each other.

What it isA standard for exchanging health data

A common way to describe and share things like patients, medications, and lab results.

The problemData stranded in silos

Systems that cannot share data leave patient information stranded; FHIR gives everyone a shared format.

HL7 and FHIRThe same standards body

FHIR is the newer, more modern and web friendly standard from the body behind HL7.

Healthcare has long suffered from systems that cannot share data, leaving patient information stranded in silos. FHIR tackles that by giving everyone a shared, web friendly format for health data.

Systems that cannot share data

Where healthcare has long been
  • Patient information stranded in silos
  • Each system becomes another island

A shared, web friendly format

What FHIR gives everyone
  • A common way to describe patients, medications, and lab results
  • Different health software can talk to each other
  • Your system connects to the wider health ecosystem

For anyone building healthcare software, supporting FHIR is what lets your system connect to the wider health ecosystem instead of becoming another island.

Figure 1. FHIR as the shared format between health systems

Your system and other health software exchange patients, medications and lab results through FHIR, a shared, web friendly format, instead of keeping patient information stranded in silosYour systemhealthcaresoftwareFHIRa shared, web friendlyformat for health dataPatientsMedicationsLab resultsOther healthsoftwarethe widerhealth ecosystemWithout a shared format: patient information stranded in silos

Drawn from this article: FHIR defines a common way to describe and share things like patients, medications, and lab results, so different health software can talk to each other instead of leaving patient information stranded in silos. Structure only; no measured values.

Sthenos builds interoperable clinical systems, like a secure EMR solution for a Florida therapy provider, designed to share data cleanly and safely.

What is the difference between HL7 and FHIR?

FHIR is a newer standard from the same body behind HL7. It is more modern and web friendly.

Related reading

Related terms:

Electronic medical record (EMR)A digital version of a patient’s chart within a single practice or provider.
EMR vs EHRAn EMR is a digital patient record used within a single practice. An EHR is built to be shared across many providers and care settings.

Services: Healthcare Software Development Services, Healthcare

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