As integration of healthcare and social care sectors becomes an ever-hotter topic, we’re excited to announce that we’ve taken a small but significant step forward: the Human Service Data Specifications are now aligned with the protocols for healthcare provider directory information specified by the Health Level Seven (HL7®) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®).
You can check out the first official version of the HL7 Human Services Directory FHIR Implementation Guide (IG) here, and access the materials on Github here.
This IG provides implementation guidance with which FHIR-based systems can query any social service directory that is compliant with HSDS* and receive information in the same format that is expected when querying a healthcare provider directory for information about clinical services. As a result, human service referral systems and healthcare coordination systems can work together across previously siloed domains.
To learn more, check out the project page here. You can chat about these specifications here in the FHIR Zulip channel dedicated to this implementation guide. And to get involved in future discussion of these and related matters, join HL7’s Human and Social Services (HSS) working group.
This work has been supported by the U.S. Administration for Community Living, as initiated through their Social Care Referrals Challenge (which we also reported on here). In partnership with EMI Advisors, and in collaboration with FEI Systems, Open Referral advised the HSS working group in strategic and technical matters pertaining to the alignment of HSDS with FHIR’s profiles for healthcare provider directory information. We are grateful to the leadership of the HSS workgroup, including Mohammad Jafari, Michelle Zancan, Christopher Shawn, Brian Handspicker, and Courtney Baldridge!
*Note: this Implementation Guide was drafted before we completed the recent upgrade to HSDS 3.0.
Few (if any) of the changes for HSDS 3.0 should pose conflicts for implementers; overall, HSDS 3.0 is more closely aligned with FHIR’s healthcare provider directory data model. Nevertheless, we look forward to continue this process of upgrading the FHIR-to-HSDS implementation guidance accordingly to ensure these specifications evolve in tandem. Please reply here, or in our forum, with any questions or suggestions you might have!
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