Investigating the Use of the Fast Health Care Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Standard to Support Data Activities Across the PCORnet® Infrastructure: Lessons Learned From the FHIR Pilots of the Coordinating Center for PCORnet®.

BACKGROUND: Institutions that participate in PCORnet® transform their local electronic health record (EHR) data into the PCORnet® Common Data Model (CDM), which is then used to generate data extracts for PCORnet® Studies. PCORnet® Studies can also include institutions that do not participate in PCORnet, and for these organizations, the cost of instantiating a PCORnet® CDM can be prohibitive. Fast Health care Interoperability Resources (FHIR) provides an alternative method of obtaining EHR data. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether data obtained through FHIR might be a viable study solution for those sites that do not participate in PCORnet.® This mixed-methods project had 2 objectives: (1) survey sites participating in PCORnet on the availability of FHIR (FHIR survey); (2) compare the coverage of a FHIR-based data extract using REDCap with one from the PCORnet® CDM across 3 sites (FHIR extract). METHODS: (1) FHIR survey: A series of questions were asked about the use of FHIR in a production capacity. (2) FHIR extract: REDCap FHIR and PCORnet® CDM extracts were created based on study variables from 2 prior PCORnet® Studies. Data were extracted for 40 patients and concordance measures were computed between the 2 sources. RESULTS: (1) FHIR survey: Of responding organizations, 73% (n=49) reported that FHIR was deployed in a production capacity. (2) FHIR extract: Results were highly variable. Cohen kappa ranged from 0.01 to 0.76 for certain diagnoses, 0.24 to 0.84 for laboratory results, and 0.1 to 0.87 for medications. CONCLUSIONS: Despite differences in data, certain studies may be well-suited for FHIR-based extracts.