What Is FHIR API, and Why Does It Matter for Your Practice?

As part of the 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in 2016, a data standard called Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) was created and is supported by HL7 International. FHIR takes the complexity of healthcare data into account, using a web-based approach to connect otherwise disconnected pieces of a patient’s record. In practice, FHIR API governs the access and exchange of data between healthcare providers and their patients.

Think about how easy it is to check a flight status or track a package in real time. FHIR is built around that same goal for health data — letting developers build applications that can access patient data regardless of which EHR system sits underneath it.

FHIR Resources

The core building block is the “resource” — a standalone data packet that can carry metadata, text, or specific pieces of clinical data, or be packaged into collections to produce clinical documents (similar in spirit to CCDA). The SMART on FHIR API standard, built on FHIR, OAuth2, and OpenID Connect, lets individuals download their own health records and share them with the apps of their choosing. It’s the same standard Apple uses to connect its Health app to hundreds of healthcare systems, and it’s used across apps built on Microsoft’s health platforms as well.

Why FHIR API Matters

• Puts patients more in control. When data is shared directly with patients, they have more visibility into their own records — which tends to build confidence in both the technology and the providers using it.
• Supports automated data structuring. Structured data exchange between patients and providers supports a value-based approach to care: better coordination, better patient experience, and lower costs from less duplicated work.
• Improves data management. Health data comes from a lot of different sources — wearables, surveys, medical records, claims data — in a lot of different formats. Real-time, standardized access is what makes that usable rather than just collected.
• Enables real collaboration. Patients get a genuinely complete picture of their own clinical data. Apple’s Health app is a good example: it pulls patient information via FHIR from EHRs and other medical facilities and combines it with data from the user’s own phone.

The Compliance Angle

FHIR API access isn’t optional for certified EHR technology — it’s part of what the 21st Century Cures Act requires, and it ties directly into the information-blocking rules that prohibit unnecessarily restricting a patient’s access to their own health data. Practices should confirm with their EHR vendor that FHIR API access is actually built in and active, not just referenced in a compliance document — ONC certification status is the place to verify that independently rather than relying on a vendor’s claim alone.

If you have questions about how FHIR API access works within Criterions EHR, request a demo and we’ll walk through it directly.