FHIR is here - get cooking

One only has to look to the increasing attendance at connectathons to appreciate that FHIR^® isn’t just the newest standard from HL7 International; it’s the new kid on the block stealing the thunder from most HIT national interoperability agendas. It is spreading around the world and Canada is no exception. These are very exciting times for standards experts and implementers alike.

The promise of easier, faster integration using a standard that is embracing the best traits of modern web technologies is attracting a rapidly growing audience. The excitement however, is only half of the story. Serious work needs to happen to forge this promise into something scalable and truly supportive of the interoperability story, with a focus on reuse and sharing, rather than a myriad of one-off implementations that will hinder, rather than accelerate information exchange - which should remain the ultimate end goal.

To date, there has been a noticeable proliferation of community-led collaboration, development and learning through active working groups, such as those hosted on InfoCentral.

Efforts are underway within the FHIR Working Group on InfoCentral to define the business case for using FHIR best practices, to find the appropriate tooling that will shape the future of it, to identify architectural elements and approaches that enable systems to work together in addition to enacting hands-on development from across the country for items that the community identified as immediately needed.

Five working streams are currently operating under the FHIR WG with possibly new ones to follow from the very active community. The best time to get involved is now, join the working group on InfoCentral. 

This marked increase in the level of interest is equally echoed by the increase in registrations to events such as the FHIR® North Connectathon at Mohawk College in April 26, 2017. With specific streams catering to developers and health executives alike, all levels of experience and interest have an opportunity to quickly gain perspectives and appreciate the impact FHIR is making in Canada. Register for FHIR North and Apps for Health today.