Health Level Seven International, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based nonprofit organization, published the latest version of its Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standards framework.
HL7 develops standards for the content and structure of electronic health information, particularly in regards to data exchange, integration and retrieval. Today, FHIR is one of the most popular interoperability standards used for exchanging electronic data in the healthcare industry, according to the ONC.
The most significant change to the new version, called FHIR release 4, is the development of "normative" sections, according to HL7. HL7 plans to submit FHIR release 4 to the American National Standards Institute as a normative standard, meaning future updates will be "backward compatible."
"FHIR release 4 marks a significant milestone with the introduction of a normative base," said HL7 FHIR Product Director Grahame Grieve. "This new maturity will help support our very active and growing community."
To view FHIR release 4, click here.