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Interoperability Fundamentals
Interoperability requires systems to exchange information, preserve its meaning and support the work people need to perform.
#Start with the information being exchanged
HL7 describes FHIR as a standard for exchanging healthcare information electronically. Its basic building block is a resource, with shared representation patterns, metadata and a human-readable part. Resources can be combined through references and tailored for a particular use. FHIR can work alongside other healthcare exchange standards; it does not require every use to follow a REST interface.
Identify the information and exchange task before choosing an implementation approach. A diagnostic observation, a report and a request serve different purposes even when they relate to the same episode of care. These sources describe the R5 specification, not the capabilities of a particular hospital system or a Mynd integration.
Evidence: HL7 FHIR R5: overview
#Name the version, profiles and terminology
HL7 calls FHIR a platform specification that usually needs adaptation to its context. Its conformance module describes rules about resource elements, exchange features, terminology and mappings to local requirements. Implementation guides bring these rules and supporting documentation together for a use case. A capability statement describes the features an implementation actually supports.
A statement that two systems use FHIR is therefore not enough to describe their compatibility. Ask which specification version and implementation guide are used, which profiles and coded values are expected, and which exchange operations are supported. These are questions to investigate, not evidence that a connection has already been tested.
Evidence: HL7 FHIR R5: conformance module / HL7 FHIR R5: implementation guides
#Separate structured exchange from permission and safe use
NICE's digital health deployment standard 19 asks for input-data descriptions, data flows, quality requirements, handling of incomplete data and minimum infrastructure. Standard 20 addresses communication, interpretation of outputs, training and consent processes where needed. These deployment questions sit alongside, rather than disappear inside, a data-exchange standard.
Data arriving in a supported structure does not by itself establish that the receiving workflow has the information it needs or permission to use it. Keep the proposed purpose, data requirements and unresolved controls visible. NICE's framework concerns NHS and social care evaluation; this page is not a legal assessment, security certification or clinical validation.
Evidence: NICE: how to meet the digital health evidence standards
Source note
The sections above were checked against the linked sources. No clinical review has been performed. This is general research education, not a clinical guideline.