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Integrating Fax with FHIR: The Key to Seamless Health Data Exchange
Updated Apr 30th, 2025 - 3 mins
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Table of Contents
How HL7 & FHIR Are Reshaping Healthcare Communication What is HL7? What is FHIR? The Role of HL7 FHIR Why Faxing is Still Important Why Healthcare Providers Still Use Fax Can FHIR and HL7 be Integrated Cloud Fax Solutions? Notifyre’s Exploration of HL7 FHIR Integration
Beyond Paper and Pagers: How HL7 & FHIR Are Reshaping Healthcare Communication
In healthcare, secure and efficient data exchange is becoming more important than ever. To help improve how systems work together, standards like HL7 and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) are shaping the future of connected healthcare communication. While faxing remains an essential part of healthcare workflows, integrating advanced standards like FHIR could be the next step in modernising how medical professionals share information.
What is HL7?
HL7 (Health Level Seven) is a set of international standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information. These HL7 standards help hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies communicate across healthcare software systems, ensuring patient data is accurate, secure, and accessible.
What is FHIR?
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is a newer standard created by HL7 to improve healthcare data exchange. Designed to work with web technologies like RESTful APIs, JSON, and XML, FHIR simplifies how healthcare systems share data. Its modular "resources" approach means systems can exchange only the data needed, like a medication list or allergy info, making it more flexible and scalable than older HL7 standards. As demand for better healthcare communication grows, FHIR is becoming crucial for real-time access to patient information.
The Role of HL7 FHIR
HL7 FHIR allows healthcare providers to access and exchange patient data securely and quickly. By implementing FHIR Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, providers can share medical information across different systems with greater ease and efficiency.
Why Faxing is Still Important
Despite the advancements with HL7 and FHIR, faxing is still widely used in healthcare. Many healthcare providers continue to rely on faxing to send medical records, prescriptions, and patient referrals due to its security, HIPAA compliance, and ability to work across different systems. For more information on faxing for pharmacies and how to fax a prescription, explore Pharmacy fax solutions.
Why Healthcare Providers Still Use Fax
Faxing is still a popular method in healthcare for several reasons:
Compliance: Faxing ensures patient data is transmitted securely while meeting ISO 27001 requirements.
Universal accessibility: Faxing does not require providers to be on the same network or use the same EHR system.
Slow transition to interoperability: Many healthcare organisations still use legacy systems. Until full interoperability is achieved across the sector, fax bridges the gap between older and newer technologies.
Existing integrations: Fax APIs enable integration with existing healthcare systems, supporting secure data exchange without disrupting clinical workflows
Can FHIR and HL7 be Integrated Cloud Fax Solutions?
Yes, FHIR APIs can be used to extract and transmit patient data to a cloud fax service. For example, a healthcare application might use FHIR to pull electronic health records (EHR) from an EHR system and then send it as a fax via a cloud-based faxing solution. This integration ensures that patient data remains accessible, secure, and compliant with healthcare standards.
Similarly, HL7 messaging (particularly HL7 v2.x or v3) can be used to transfer healthcare data to cloud fax services. HL7 messages can be parsed and integrated with cloud-based fax systems, enabling healthcare providers to send faxes containing structured health information directly from their EHRs or healthcare management platforms.
The integration of FHIR or HL7 with cloud fax solutions can automate the process of sending prescriptions, referrals, lab results, and medical records securely and efficiently, reducing manual effort, improving workflow, and enhancing the overall healthcare experience.
Notifyre’s Exploration of HL7 FHIR Integration
The healthcare industry is moving toward greater HL7 integration and FHIR adoption for seamless digital communication. However, faxing remains a secure and compliant method for transmitting sensitive medical documents. At Notifyre, we recognise the importance of secure faxing for healthcare. As technology advances, integrating HL7 FHIR standards could be the next step in enhancing the way healthcare providers share critical patient data. By combining online faxing with FHIR, healthcare systems can bridge the gap between traditional fax machines and healthcare interoperability.
If HL7 or FHIR integration would benefit your organisation contact us with your requirement to help us better understand and prioritise future development needs.
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