Brussels, 28 May 2025 

HL7 Europe opened the review period for four HL7 FHIR Implementation Guides (IGs) that define how the HL7 FHIR global standard should be applied to meet the requirements of the European Health Data Space and the anticipated technical specifications for the six priority categories of health data. These requirements include data elements defined in eHealth Network guidelines, models developed by the Xt-EHR Joint Action, or shared assets such as the European Health Insurance Card. All stakeholders are invited to review and comment on these specifications on HL7’s open Jira Platform. HL7 European country affiliates will be able to vote in the ballot that closes on Sunday, 30 June 2025.

“Through these European Implementation Guides, we are shaping HL7 FHIR to meet the needs of the European Health Data Space, making this a robust international standard fully suitable for use in Europe” says Giorgio Cangioli, European Technical Lead at HL7 Europe. “We are excited to support the development of an ‘EHDS FHIR Implementation Guides ecosystem’ specifically aligned with the EHDS priority categories of health data. In turn, our global community will contribute to harmonising EHDS specifications for global adoption.”

HL7 FHIR is a global standard for exchanging healthcare information electronically. It is based on emerging industry approaches and informed by many years of experience gained through defining and implementing previous HL7 standards. HL7 FHIR can be used as a stand-alone data exchange standard, but can and will also be used in partnership with existing widely used standards.

Health Level Seven International (HL7), founded in 1987, is a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. The HL7 community works through collaborative online platforms including Jira and Confluence, and through periodic virtual and face to face meetings in all parts of the world.

The four FHIR Implementation Guides for balloting are available here:

• HL7 Europe Base and Core FHIR IG (R4) STU1 – Ballot
  IG: https://hl7.eu/fhir/base/0.1.0-ballot/

• HL7 Europe Base and Core FHIR IG (R5) STU1 – Ballot
  IG: https://hl7.eu/fhir/base-r5/0.1.0-ballot/

• HL7 Europe Imaging Study Report FHIR IG (R5) STU1 – Ballot
  IG: https://hl7.eu/fhir/imaging-r5/0.1.0-ballot/

• HL7 Europe Extensions FHIR IG (R4/R5) – Ballot
  IG: https://hl7.eu/fhir/extensions/0.1.1-ballot/

These specifications are foundational to enabling interoperable health data exchange across Europe, directly supporting the objectives of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).

Instructions for submitting feedback to these specifications can be found on the HL7 Europe Confluence page. HL7 Europe will organise a webinar in mid-June 2025 to discuss the IGs and respond to questions.

(Note: for the recording and slides of this webinar click here.)

About HL7 Europe: HL7 Europe is a not-for-profit Foundation established in Brussels in 2010 with the aim to address European standardisation requirements in digital health serving as the European office of HL7 International. The mission of HL7 Europe is to provide standards that empower global health data interoperability to realise its vision of a world in which everyone can securely access and use the right health data when and where they need it. It works in close cooperation with 22 national HL7 Affiliates across Europe and supports the creation of health information technology standards that are widely and easily used enabling interoperability in healthcare. For more information go to www.hl7europe.org.

For more information contact info@hl7europe.org.