Progressively more health care providers are adapting electronic medical records (EMR) with patients having multiple EMRs expanding over a variety of software platforms, institutions and heath service providers. The exchange of information is becoming more important with interoperability considered a key requirement for the success of healthcare which, will transforming the way health care providers use technology to make informed clinical decisions (Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2014).
This review will discuss the benefits of the current proposed solution Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) focusing on health services, including health providers, patient and operational aspects involving information technology and financial benefits. The review will also discuss the challenges of health system with procuring an FHIR innovation examining security, standarsiation of systems, legal, and ethical limitations. 2.0 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a standard of healthcare data that aims to provide the exchange of electronic health data using interoperability resources to transfer data into a readable format (Mousa, 2016). The standard was produced to provide consistent framework principles in the implementation ‘aiming to support modern approaches and be more developer-friendly for information’ and data (Mousa, 2016). Technologically the FHIR is based on two elements simple and complex, which can be further broken down into 32 resources. The simple element refers to single elements such as date, gender, date of birth and complex elements are clusters of elements such as name, doctor, medication and diagnoses (Mousa, 2016). The FHIR uses these elements to structure the data and combine resources, which results in readable data such as documents, messages and services that can be shared by between multiple health care facilities (Mousa, 2016). 3.0 Benefits of procuring an EMR with FHIR The benefits of interoperability in a healthcare environment would largely benefit patients and health care providers allowing the use of electronic patient information exchange between multiple health care services and providers. The use of information exchange encourages collaboration of clinicians and increases communications between health providers. Patient safety and improved health surveillance will be an invaluable resource gained from the procurement of an FHIR, preventing the outbreak of infectious disease and reducing health costs (Hincapie & Warholak, 2011). This exchange of information will improve health outcomes and delivery of efficient patient care resulting in advantageous clinical practices for both patient and health providers (Brady, 2015). The procurement of FHIR will also be beneficial to Information Technology (IT) departments as it provides access to implementation libraries for ease of use with simple interfaces, limiting restrictions on specifications and maximising adaptability of multiple types of EMR software programs ("HL7 Standards Product Brief", n.d.). The use of system interoperability can be easily implemented which will introduce a financially viable model of patient care and delivery for health services moving forward. The FHIR gives health services the functionality to adapt patient records from any service in the world to a readable file, which has the ability to create a potentially universal health record platform (Braunstein, 2015). This innovation would revolutionise the health system and prevent services from spending unnecessary money on upgrading and adapting current software platforms to keep up with technological demand. 4.0 Disadvantages and limitations of …show more content…
The FHIR system offers interoperability however lacks security functionality both at the point of information exchange and the patient’s identity and privacy (Mousa, 2016) once the information has been received. A possible solution could argue that users require permissions to be granted before accessing patient details however, this poses an additional limitation on who or which organisations monitors permissions across multiple health services. Similarly, legal concerns will implicate the procurement of FHIR as clinicians and other health care providers will be have access to multidisciplinary records which permits clinical decisions to be overridden causing liability and patient safety concerns (Sittig & Singh, …show more content…
Furthermore, adolescents patients or patients with disorders, mental health, or deemed incapacity, are they able to access of their data and or consent to the exchange of information (Sittig & Singh, 2011). Regulations around ethical concerns would need to be addressed and appropriate measures put in place to ensure patients who request to opt out of the information exchange are adhered
This review will discuss the benefits of the current proposed solution Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) focusing on health services, including health providers, patient and operational aspects involving information technology and financial benefits. The review will also discuss the challenges of health system with procuring an FHIR innovation examining security, standarsiation of systems, legal, and ethical limitations. 2.0 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a standard of healthcare data that aims to provide the exchange of electronic health data using interoperability resources to transfer data into a readable format (Mousa, 2016). The standard was produced to provide consistent framework principles in the implementation ‘aiming to support modern approaches and be more developer-friendly for information’ and data (Mousa, 2016). Technologically the FHIR is based on two elements simple and complex, which can be further broken down into 32 resources. The simple element refers to single elements such as date, gender, date of birth and complex elements are clusters of elements such as name, doctor, medication and diagnoses (Mousa, 2016). The FHIR uses these elements to structure the data and combine resources, which results in readable data such as documents, messages and services that can be shared by between multiple health care facilities (Mousa, 2016). 3.0 Benefits of procuring an EMR with FHIR The benefits of interoperability in a healthcare environment would largely benefit patients and health care providers allowing the use of electronic patient information exchange between multiple health care services and providers. The use of information exchange encourages collaboration of clinicians and increases communications between health providers. Patient safety and improved health surveillance will be an invaluable resource gained from the procurement of an FHIR, preventing the outbreak of infectious disease and reducing health costs (Hincapie & Warholak, 2011). This exchange of information will improve health outcomes and delivery of efficient patient care resulting in advantageous clinical practices for both patient and health providers (Brady, 2015). The procurement of FHIR will also be beneficial to Information Technology (IT) departments as it provides access to implementation libraries for ease of use with simple interfaces, limiting restrictions on specifications and maximising adaptability of multiple types of EMR software programs ("HL7 Standards Product Brief", n.d.). The use of system interoperability can be easily implemented which will introduce a financially viable model of patient care and delivery for health services moving forward. The FHIR gives health services the functionality to adapt patient records from any service in the world to a readable file, which has the ability to create a potentially universal health record platform (Braunstein, 2015). This innovation would revolutionise the health system and prevent services from spending unnecessary money on upgrading and adapting current software platforms to keep up with technological demand. 4.0 Disadvantages and limitations of …show more content…
The FHIR system offers interoperability however lacks security functionality both at the point of information exchange and the patient’s identity and privacy (Mousa, 2016) once the information has been received. A possible solution could argue that users require permissions to be granted before accessing patient details however, this poses an additional limitation on who or which organisations monitors permissions across multiple health services. Similarly, legal concerns will implicate the procurement of FHIR as clinicians and other health care providers will be have access to multidisciplinary records which permits clinical decisions to be overridden causing liability and patient safety concerns (Sittig & Singh, …show more content…
Furthermore, adolescents patients or patients with disorders, mental health, or deemed incapacity, are they able to access of their data and or consent to the exchange of information (Sittig & Singh, 2011). Regulations around ethical concerns would need to be addressed and appropriate measures put in place to ensure patients who request to opt out of the information exchange are adhered