Adoption and Standardization of FHIR in Public Health: Insights from Playbooks and Data Briefs
Catalog | Public Health Interoperability
Summary
The Public Health FHIR Implementation Collaborative (PHFIC) developed 'The Public Health FHIR Playbook' to guide state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) public health agencies on successfully implementing FHIR. Furthermore, the ONC publishes data briefs and fact sheets covering various interoperability topics and foundational knowledge about FHIR.
Details
This page serves as a resource collection illustrating standardization trends for electronic health data exchange in the US public health sector. The 'Public Health FHIR Playbook,' provided by PHFIC, is significant because it not only describes the FHIR standard but also details its policy context and concrete steps required for successful implementation within public health agencies. This suggests coverage of the entire institutional implementation process, not just technical aspects. Additionally, the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) provides educational resources such as data briefs on various interoperability topics and 'FHIR Fact Sheets.' These materials educate users on FHIR's key technical concepts and how it is developed through an open and public process. This reinforces that FHIR is positioned not merely as a technical specification, but as a standard foundation for comprehensive data exchange across the broad public health domain. In the context of Japanese healthcare IT, the existence of such 'Playbooks' and comprehensive guidelines offers valuable lessons on success factors when adopting new standards (including policy and systemic design, not just technology selection). The advancement of FHIR in the public health domain directly relates to strengthening regional data linkage, a theme highly relevant to Japan's regional medical planning initiatives.
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