Subbian Co-Authors Healthcare Information Study

SIE associate professor Vignesh Subbian is co-author of a study on the changing landscape of health information apps. The study, led by Regenstrief Institute research scientist Titus K. Schleyer, surveyed apps created with the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard. This provided a snapshot of how the innovative standard is used to enable the flow of health information.

“FHIR might seem like an obscure technical concept, but it has everyday applications and uses for patients, for clinicians and for healthcare systems. It makes health information more accessible, not just among clinicians, but also clinicians and patients,” said Schleyer in an interview with ScienMag. “In fact, the core asset of many FHIR apps is to take information out of an electronic health record and do useful things with it, such as identify trends, provide clinical decision support or handle a niche area not covered by a commercial electronic medical record system.”

FHIR (pronounced "fire") was first created in 2012 to standardize healthcare apps. According to the study, FHIR has gained enormous support worldwide, and as a result, patients are gaining greater access to their data. The study also found that expanding existing repositories to encompass a more comprehensive global FHIR app registry would contribute to a better understanding of FHIR trends and support recent regulations.

The study, “Clinical, technical, and implementation characteristics of real-world health applications using FHIR,” was published in JAMIA Open.