After interoperability: FHIR is the gateway for AI | Healthcare IT News

Once the specification gains wider use for data exchange, it will open the doors for more advanced uses of data, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, IBM, Google and Microsoft executives said at HIMSS19. ORLANDO — HL7’s FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is largely seen as an enabler of health data exchange, which of course it is, but executives at IBM, Google and Microsoft said it will also lay the foundation for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“Interoperability is the cornerstone of our healthcare strategy — teaching cloud to speak the language of healthcare: HL7, FHIR, DICOM,” said Aashima Gupta, global head of healthcare and life sciences at Google Cloud, during a panel discussion here at HIMSS19 on Thursday.

Google, in addition to IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce, signed a pledge to remove interoperability barriers back in August 2018 during the Blue Button 2.0 hackathon at the White House. And while the companies have yet to provide specific details they said it will involve cloud computing, FHIR and open APIs.

“We’re competitors in many ways but also very much aligned because without interoperability we can’t really make a change and make a difference,” said Mark Dudman, health of global product and AI development at IBM. “Right now, FHIR is taking systems that don’t interact to talk quickly. We’ve hit that first real target of getting systems to talk, but now we have to talk in volume.”