Healthcare providers today rely on a multitude of applications and data sources to manage their daily operations. Integrating these applications and data is essential for delivering efficient patient care.

Despite advancements in data transformation and integration, the healthcare industry has faced challenges due to the sensitivity and complexity of the data involved. Some healthcare data are still transmitted in physical formats, hindering seamless integration and automation.

Understanding HL7 and the FHIR Standard

Health Level Seven (HL7) is an internationally recognized set of standards created in 1989 to facilitate better hospital workflow support. Meanwhile, the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) represents the latest iteration of HL7, offering more advanced capabilities for healthcare data exchange and interoperability.

Benefits and Differences of FHIR

FHIR simplifies the management of patient care across different providers and healthcare organizations by creating a unified personal health record. This standard enhances care coordination, clinical decision support, and overall healthcare efficiency.

FHIR builds upon earlier standards and uses common web technologies to make data exchange more efficient. It also provides greater flexibility, ease of implementation, and out-of-the-box interoperability compared to prior HL7 versions.

Integration of FHIR with IBM®

IBM App Connect offers a powerful solution for transforming HL7 to FHIR bidirectionally without requiring the rewriting of existing applications. Additionally, IBM App Connect for Healthcare provides pre-built patterns for smart FHIR transformation and routing, empowering healthcare organizations to leverage FHIR’s benefits and explore new integration methods.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is integrating healthcare apps and data important?

Integrating healthcare apps and data is crucial for enabling efficient patient care and streamlining workflows for healthcare providers.

How does FHIR simplify patient care management?

FHIR streamlines patient care management by creating a unified personal health record that integrates data from multiple sources, enhancing care coordination and clinical decision support.

Is FHIR compatible with HL7?

FHIR is compatible with HL7 V2 and CDA standards, but organizations are encouraged to migrate to FHIR to take advantage of enhanced health information data exchange capabilities.

Visit the IBM App Connect product page to learn more about IBM’s FHIR and HL7 integration implementation.