FHIR® Improves Health IT Interoperability

In 2024, Health Level Seven International (HL7®), a leading standards-development organization, and The Sequoia Project announced a strategic collaboration to advance global health data interoperability by accelerating the adoption of the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) standards in the United States.

HL7 and The Sequoia Project will work together to accelerate the HL7 FHIR standard through coordinating with the work of FHIR at Scale Taskforce HL7 FHIR® Accelerator (FAST).

Through this strategic relationship, HL7 and The Sequoia Project aim to continue working together in areas of mutual interest, including standards deployment and adoption, alignment between HL7 FHIR Accelerator projects and Sequoia initiatives, and creating a feedback loop to HL7 based on lessons learned from real-world production-level exchange initiatives, education, and testing.

The focus of the FAST collaboration will be to promote alignment, where possible and applicable, in the following areas to begin:

1. HL7 FAST Security for Scalable Registration, Authorization, and Authentication

2. HL7 FAST Interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching

3. HL7 FAST National Healthcare Directory

4. HL7 FAST Hybrid/Intermediary Exchange

5. HL7 FAST Consent at Scale

FAST, initially an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) -convened initiative, was launched in late 2017 in response to an industry-recognized need to address shared FHIR scalability challenges. Acting as a neutral convener, ONC facilitated the engagement of a highly representative group of volunteer healthcare industry stakeholders and health information technology expertise, before transferring the program to HL7.

Additionally, The Sequoia Project has already launched a FHIR-based provider directory. As FHIR becomes more deployed across the industry, we will be ready to leverage the standard in other ways as well.