The core of the solution is the FHIR Health Information Exchange Standard. It opens up the possibility for us to use entities called resources. Resources are structures that can be used in all business processes of a medical institution.
To describe the forms, the FHIR suggests using a resource called a Questionnaire. A Questionnaire is an organized collection of questions intended to solicit information from patients, providers, or other individuals involved in the healthcare domain. They may be simple flat lists of questions or can be hierarchically organized in groups and sub-groups, each containing questions.
In addition, FHIR offers a SDC (Structured Data Capture) implementation guide. The Structured Data Capture (SDC) Initiative identifies and recommends standards for the interoperable representation and transmission of the following:
- Standard form designs;
- Querying for form;
- Return a form;
- Submit completed form data to an external data repository
We have designed and developed our open source product, which is based on FHIR SDC.