HL7 International and Audacious Inquiry Collaborate to Support COVID-19 Response

HL7 International (HL7) and Audacious Inquiry (Ai) recently announced a critical collaborative effort to develop an HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Implementation Guide. The project will support the coronavirus response by automating transmission and enabling real-time exchange of deidentified data among health care organizations and public health authorities that will be tested at the upcoming virtual HL7 FHIR Connectathon in May. 

The effort is being coordinated through an initiative called The Situational Awareness for Novel Epidemic Response (SANER) Project. The SANER Project brings together thought leaders in HIT and disaster response on a project that will enable the secure and rapid transfer of information about hospital bed capacity and availability of critical resources during public health emergencies. 

The project will empower global developers to collaborate on the COVID-19 response through shared interoperability standards based on HL7 FHIR. Health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and government response authorities can leverage these standards to expose data that is critical for controlling the spread of the disease and managing limited health care resources across the country. 

Remarking on the progress of the effort, Scott Afzal, Audacious Inquiry’s president, comments, “On the same day the project was launched by Ai, a proposal was submitted to HL7 to build the essential FHIR Implementation Guide, and Ai agreed to contribute the existing IG content to HL7.” He continues, “HL7 pulled out all of the stops to support this effort. Within two weeks, the HL7 SANER FHIR IG project was approved by HL7’s members. We could not be more thrilled to have their members support at this critical time.” 

HL7’s CEO, Dr. Charles Jaffe, says, “The HL7 global volunteer community has rapidly mobilized to develop and support multiple and varied initiatives that enable information sharing, which specifically address the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to collaborate on critical projects that accelerate the struggle to defeat this worldwide crisis.” 

A track has been created to support testing for the implementation guide at HL7's first virtual FHIR Connectathon being held May 13-15. Interested participants can register here.

Source: HL7 International