Check two FHIR suppliers support the same intended task

What this means for your practice

Ask both suppliers to confirm how they use FHIR, the healthcare information-exchange standard, for your specific task. Their specialists should compare versions and local requirements, then demonstrate that the requested information reaches the receiving team in a usable form.

Questions to take to your supplier

Ask both sides to review one fictional example together, including their supported versions and local requirements. Who resolves any mismatch? Record open questions before accepting a delivery estimate. The official HL7 introduction linked below explains the role of local adaptations.

Agree the working process

Ask both suppliers to put their supported arrangements side by side for the specific task, rather than compare broad product claims. The technical team should identify versions, relevant local requirements and the meaning of important values. The practice's role is to make the intended outcome and information needs clear and ensure unresolved differences have owners. Use one ordinary fictional example and another with a less common value or missing detail. Have the receiving side explain what it can accept and what staff will see.

Record any translation or additional setup needed, together with who maintains it when either product changes. Keep the demonstration connected to the actual interface being purchased or accessed, because a generic example may not represent that service. A shared standard can support the project while still requiring agreement between the implementations. Acceptance should therefore rest on the demonstrated exchange and understandable limitations, not solely on matching terminology in two sales documents.

How to check the result

Track compatibility assumptions awaiting demonstration.