Cerner sets up production version of FHIR standard in its EHR
Cerner has unveiled a production version of HL7’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard that is being tested in its EHR.
Customers will beta test Substitutable Medical Applications and Reusable Technologies (SMART)—an application programming interface on FHIR applications—in Cerner’s Millennium EHR system, with a starter catalog of SMART on FHIR apps available by the end of the year.
“This next-generation standards framework enables healthcare organizations to utilize Cerner’s open platform, which is designed to enable third-party innovators to advance care delivery and improve interoperability capabilities with other FHIR-compliant EHR systems,” said David McCallie, MD Cerner's senior vice president, medical informatics. “This integrated approach will provide clinicians access to ‘pluggable apps’ directly within their workflows that are designed to expand and transform the way care is delivered.”
Cerner has begun working with Mosaic Life Care to test a clinical decision support system that helps clinicians recognize and diagnose visually presenting conditions, VisualDX, in its ambulatory clinics, emergency departments and throughout the hospital, according to a Cerner release.
“The development of SMART on FHIR apps within Cerner Millennium is comparable to smartphones replacing pagers,” said Brennan Lehman, CIO at Mosaic Life Care. “For years, we’ve struggled with complex interfaces, faxing and scanning to piece together the patient story. From the patient’s perspective, care isn’t limited to the four walls of the hospital. FHIR-enabled apps seamlessly integrated with Cerner Millennium create the platform to solve the puzzle.”
Cerner will continue to build FHIR services to support a wide variety of clinical resources and to follow the standard, including the recently balloted Draft Standard for Trial Use 2.0. By the end of the year, an initial catalog of SMART on FHIR applications will be generally available for use to extend the Cerner Millennium platform.
Cerner is hosting its annual health conference this week where an estimated 14,000 attendees will get a look at a variety of SMART on FHIR apps. Cerner’s FHIR sandbox and documentation are available to clients and third-party application developers at fhir.cerner.com.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.