Clinical Informatics and FHIR® | Data Science at NIH

Clinical Informatics

The ODSS Clinical Informatics (CI) unit develops and supports methodology and ethical practices that enable interoperability of datasets, including the exchange of clinical and healthcare information for research purposes. Specifically, the unit encourages the development and use of clinical data standards such as the Health Level Seven International (HL7®) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) and common data elements (CDEs) through collaboration with NIH institutes, centers and offices. Some of these activities include:

Building research capacity for NIH staff and extramural communities to leverage data standards such as FHIR
Promoting the use and implementation of clinical data standards to capture, integrate, and exchange clinical data, e.g. common data models
Facilitating the sharing and reuse of clinical and social determinants of health (SDoH) data using CDEs
Providing clinical informatics trainings and resources for the research community

NIH Supporting the Use of FHIR

NIH encourages biomedical investigators to use the FHIR standard to access electronic health records for research purposes, with proper safeguards for privacy and confidentiality. Learn about relevant NIH supported extramural projects on NIH RePORTER.

Extramural Grantee Projects

Researcher Resources

To facilitate the awareness and adoption of FHIR as a standard for healthcare information exchange, ODSS has supported the development of the following resources for investigators transitioning to this next generation health data standard.

CDM and FHIR Harmonization Resources

FHIR Training Resources

ODSS has held a series of trainings to aid the introduction of FHIR to the community. These introductory webinars and workshops provide participants with an overview of relevant technologies, key concepts, and potential uses of FHIR applications.

FHIR for Researchers Training

Common Data Elements and Social Determinants of Health

Learn how common data elements enhance the ability to efficiently share and reuse data generated from research, and how they can be used to address social determinants of health.

Learn More

Related Activities

Learn about activities related to health data interoperability and adoption of the FHIR standard:

NIH issued NOT-OD-20-146 to encourage the use of USCDI data classes, elements, and vocabulary standards with FHIR
The United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) defines common data elements and classes to facilitate healthcare information exchange
The US Core Implementation Guide specifies how FHIR should be applied in clinical settings, enabling nationwide interoperability
NIH issued NOT-OD-19-122 to encourage NIH-funded investigators to explore the use of FHIR