Interoperability Standards HL7

HL7 and FHIR are healthcare data standards. HL7 v2 is the legacy standard (pipe-delimited messages used by 95% of hospitals). FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the modern standard (REST APIs + JSON, adopted by ~30% of healthcare organizations). Both enable healthcare system interoperability: EHRs, labs, imaging systems, billing systems all exchange data using standard formats. Without standards, each integration is custom (expensive, brittle).