A standout feature of every Hospitals on FHIR User Days event is the Hospital’s HL7 FHIR Implementation Experiences session series. These sessions provide a valuable 

platform for showcasing the real-world adoption of HL7 FHIR across European hospitals. Healthcare IT experts share practical insights, from improving internal data workflows to tackling regional and national integration challenges, offering lessons learned, success stories, and honest reflections. At the Berlin edition, this popular series included four well-attended sessions, each highlighting the progress and challenges hospitals face on their path to interoperability.

An engaging session highlighted the recently completed PanCareSurPass project, focusing on the lifelong needs of childhood and adolescent cancer survivors. Central to the project is the "Survivorship Passport", a digital tool that equips survivors and their healthcare providers with a comprehensive treatment summary and personalised follow-up care recommendations, based on international clinical guidelines. A major focus of the session was interoperability. The project showcased how the Survivorship Passport integrates with Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) using HL7 FHIR standards, enabling the semi-automated or automated exchange of health, treatment, and diagnostic data across systems. This seamless integration supports more coordinated, efficient, and patient-centred long-term care.  A discussion on how PanCareSurPass and xShare are complementary projects with their patient-centric workflow, EHDS strategic and policy connection and their common data language (HL7 FHIR and the EEHRxF). It was noted that the xShare Yellow Button could deliver Survivorship Passport information (i.e., medical history and care plans) to benefit all stakeholders, but most of all childhood and adolescent cancer survivors. The opportunity for vendors to provide xShare button components for patient facing apps of hospitals and health providers was raised.

One of the key technical discussions focused on the migration from legacy health IT standards to FHIR-based infrastructures—a complex yet critical step in achieving true interoperability. Topics included data mapping and transformation, maintaining data integrity during migration, aligning with current regulatory requirements, and ensuring backward compatibility with existing systems. Presenters shared real-world strategies for managing this transition, highlighting both technical hurdles and the maturity model steps needed to support health data exchange using HL7 FHIR.

The XiA (Xpanding Innovative Alliance) project is a European initiative focused on strengthening digital health interoperability skills across Europe, particularly considering the evolving regulatory landscape of the European Health Data Space (EHDS). Building on the foundations laid by the XpanDH project, which developed early training resources in digital health interoperability, XiA takes this work further by designing and producing comprehensive educational frameworks, training materials, and conducting skills and needs mapping. A key objective is to create inclusive and accessible training programmes, ensuring that the future workforce is equipped with the necessary skills to navigate and implement interoperable digital health solutions across the Europe.

Patient empowerment also took center stage during the FHIR Powered Patient Engagement session, where attendees explored how APIs and apps equipped with the xShare Button are reshaping the patient experience, giving individuals more control over their data and care.