Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources
Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a healthcare data exchange standard developed by HL7 International. It defines a set of resources (e.g., Patient, Observation, Medication) and APIs for exchanging electronic health records (EHR) and other healthcare information. FHIR uses modern web standards like RESTful APIs, JSON, and XML to enable interoperability between different healthcare systems.
Developers should learn FHIR when building or integrating healthcare applications, such as EHR systems, telehealth platforms, or health data analytics tools, to ensure compliance and interoperability. It is essential for projects requiring secure, standardized exchange of patient data across organizations, like in health information exchanges (HIEs) or when complying with regulations like the 21st Century Cures Act in the U.S.