What is FHIR R4?

FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is a standard for exchanging electronic health information. R4 refers to the fourth major version, published by HL7 International.

Why FHIR?

Health data has historically been fragmented across different systems. FHIR solves this by providing a standardized way to represent and exchange health data.

Core Concepts

Resources

Everything in FHIR is a Resource. Common resources include:

• Patient - the individual receiving care
• Observation - clinical measurements
• Encounter - an interaction between patient and healthcare provider
• Condition - diagnoses and health problems
• MedicationRequest - prescriptions

Example: A Patient Resource

{
  "resourceType": "Patient",
  "id": "example-123",
  "active": true,
  "name": [
    {
      "use": "official",
      "family": "Smith",
      "given": ["John"]
    }
  ],
  "gender": "male",
  "birthDate": "1990-01-15"
}

REST API Pattern

FHIR uses standard HTTP methods: