Identifcation of FHIR Usage Patterns in IHE Profiles

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Informatics
• Healthcare Interoperability

Background:

• Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profiles are crucial for healthcare interoperability.
• Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a modern standard for exchanging healthcare information.
• Enhancing IHE profiles with FHIR functionality is essential for advancing healthcare data exchange.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the approaches used to integrate FHIR functionality into IHE profiles.
• To identify distinct patterns of FHIR integration within IHE profiles.
• To assess the maturity and evolution of these FHIR-enhanced IHE profiles.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 33 Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profiles incorporating Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR).
• Identification and categorization of five distinct integration patterns.
• Assessment of profile maturity and developmental trends over time.

Main Results:

• Five primary patterns of FHIR integration into IHE profiles were identified: wrapping, adding FHIR actors/transactions, resource operation extension, purely FHIR-based profiles, and content profiles using FHIR resources.
• These patterns represent diverse strategies for leveraging FHIR's capabilities within existing IHE frameworks.
• The study also evaluated the maturity and evolution of these FHIR-enhanced profiles.

Conclusions:

• FHIR integration into IHE profiles follows identifiable patterns, demonstrating a clear evolution in healthcare interoperability standards.
• Understanding these patterns is key to developing and implementing effective FHIR-based healthcare solutions.
• The findings provide insights into the ongoing development and future direction of healthcare data standards.