FHIR is the next generation standard for the exchange of healthcare data and is enabling interoperability in all kinds of areas, from Clinical Decision Support (CDS) to Vaccine Credentials. HLN has experience with FHIR and has implemented FHIR interfaces to facilitate the interoperability of healthcare data. We have been working with FHIR since 2016, initially working with an immunization-focused subgroup of the HL7 Public Health Work Group to author the Immunization Decision Support Forecast (ImmDS) Implementation Guide. We later developed a CDS Hooks interface to the Immunization Calculation Engine (ICE), capable of taking Patient and Immunization resources from the FHIR server of an Electronic Health Record System (EHR) and displaying a forecast to the clinician. We successfully embedded it into EHRs at an HL7 Connectathon in 2018.
More recently, HLN FHIR-enabled Rhode Island’s Immunization Information System (IIS), KIDSNET/RICAIR, architecting a FHIR Façade Model using the open source HL7 Application Programming Interface (HAPI) FHIR server. HLN’s FHIR implementation in Rhode Island provides Bulk Query capability, including group operations and bulk matching, and is secured with SMART Backend Services (OAuth) authentication/authorization. The architecture doubles as an application modernization strategy consistent with CDC’s Data Modernization Initiative (DMI): replacing legacy web applications with modern front-ends that communicate with the FHIR back-end.
Furthermore, HLN has been a key participant in the Helios FHIR Accelerator for Public Health for IIS Bulk Data Query, participating in two connectathons with EHR, IIS, and HIE vendors; presenting at HIMSS, and other national venues; and contributing to the set of best practices that will be compiled into an Implementation Guide in 2024. HLN is also engaging as a participant in the Helios Align and Optimize Track focused on testing a generic query/response workflow for querying for supplemental information for reportable conditions.
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