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Interoperability: What is FHIR? - Part 2 in a series
Jun 10, 2021
In part one of our two-part series, we provided a high-level overview of the origins and implication of the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standard, or FHIR. While to date, there is no known timeframe determined for implementation of the standards by payers and providers in the Cures Act, what is known is that a day is coming.
Recall that The Cures Act defines in the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) that healthcare providers and their businesses will be required to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to exchange information, but no guidance has yet been provided as to when they must be used. Similarly, payer organizations are encouraged to follow the standards, but no mandates have been issued for payer organizations to adhere to the standards, as well.
Despite the lack of deadline, it is important that your business begins its preparations for implementation today.
While Health Level 7 International (HL7) has defined the data exchange standards in FHIR, organizations will need to determine how the data fields in their specific systems will get mapped back to the data fields defined in the standards. While FHIR standards define what information needs to be included in a specific exchange transaction, it’s up to each organization to determine how to get their source system data identified, accessible, and mapped (via APIs) to external healthcare entities and patients.
This means that while businesses may be exchanging information as required by the HL7 standards, the methods of data collection and the means of making internal data available via APIs will vary widely between organizations. Many of the Cures Act standards require specific healthcare data to be used, such as the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) when a healthcare data exchange is being completed.
These standards may demand the addition of new data elements, such as the Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) code sets, to be compliant.
It’s likely that your organization has not exchanged health information in this way, or with these standards. A considerable number of large health systems are just getting started in this type of data sharing. If this is the case for your organization, not only do you have to pick a technology platform (or write the software yourself), you also must determine where this data will be sourced from and where it should be stored within your technology ecosystem.
Performing the analysis on your data and how it maps to the new standards can be a daunting task. Fortunately, professional services exist that can perform the necessary analysis, identify your source datasets, reveal how to map that data into the defined standards, and help define a solution that will make those data elements available for FHIR-based API services.
While we strive to find our way to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparing for the Cures Act is vital work for healthcare organizations in their effort to provide the best care possible. Once more, you can look to IQVIA for assistance with these services. The accurate and efficient exchange of healthcare information benefits us all.
Catch up on the Cures Act
Are you ready for July 1, 2021?