Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR (which is pronounced just like “fire”), is a bit like the language that different healthcare computer systems use to talk to each other. It’s a standard set up by Health Level Seven International, a non-profit group that focuses on this kind of thing.
The cool thing about FHIR is that it uses common web languages like XML and JSON, and it’s built to work well over the internet, making it a good fit for apps and websites. It breaks down healthcare information into ‘resources’ or little chunks, that can be used to build all sorts of systems.
Unlike some older standards, FHIR is meant to be pretty straightforward to use and it really emphasizes making sure different systems can work together. It’s designed to be really flexible to help tackle the wide range of issues hospitals and healthcare providers come across, making it easier to share electronic health records and other patient data.
learn more about FHIR here.