Interoperability of Electronic Medical Records: Explaining the Difference Between HL7 FHIR and DICOM
電子カルテと相互運用性（HL7 FHIR）とは？ITパスポート試験対策 - まなクエ！
Summary
This article introduces HL7 FHIR as a standard for data exchange among medical information systems. FHIR is a technology that uses REST API to standardize text-based information like patient records and prescriptions, enabling interoperability between different hospital systems.
Details
The article explains the major standards for achieving electronic medical record interoperability. Specifically, HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is a standard designed to realize data exchange among medical information systems by standardizing medical resources—such as 'patient information, diagnosis, prescriptions, and test results'—using RESTful API with JSON/XML. Crucially, the article emphasizes distinguishing its role from image data. The international standard for storing and transmitting medical images is DICOM, which is dedicated solely to images. In contrast, FHIR specializes in linking text-based information (such as clinical records), making it important to distinguish their roles: 'DICOM for images, FHIR for text information linkage.' It is noted that the adoption of interoperability standards like FHIR is being promoted in Japan through policies such as the Next Generation Medical Infrastructure Act and electronic medical record standardization policies. The article aims to educate learners on these technical differences within the context of IT Passport exam preparation.
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