German Healthcare Data Interoperability: BMG Supports FHIR Model Development

Details

The BMG is funding a project for the 'Development of an Intersectoral FHIR Data Model.' The goal is to enable the reliable exchange of health data across different sectors, moving beyond single care system boundaries like hospitals or practices. Currently, much of the data in the electronic patient record (ePA) consists of unstructured PDFs, limiting robust automated processing. This project introduces 'Medical Information Objects' (MIOs), which define specific structured information—such as discharge summaries or lab results—that should be included in the ePA. Tiplu GmbH is utilizing FHIR-CDR TipluDB to extract and process anonymized patient records, developing an intersectoral data model. They are testing various use cases (e.g., AI-based discharge summary creation, embedding structured data into a patient portal). This development aims to reduce medical errors and duplicate examinations and make technically feasible things like short-stay records (as envisioned in EHDS). Ultimately, the project seeks to establish a unified data core model for German healthcare, overcoming existing siloed structural barriers and advancing the ePA toward a practical FHIR patient record.