Altarum Receives Contract Extension to Lead HL7 Helios FHIR Accelerator for Public Health

Not-for-profit, standards development organization HL7® International recently awarded Altarum a contract extension to provide program leadership of their Helios FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) Accelerator for Public Health through September 2023.

Helios is an alliance of government, private sector, and academic stakeholders united by their commitment to the equitable and effective use of data for the advancement of public health. Its members work to ensure public health data modernization efforts incorporate FHIR-based solutions by identifying potential impediments to their use and developing standards, approaches, and tools to streamline real-world adoption.

As demonstrated by the massive influx of test results during the Covid-19 pandemic, the public health community and their partners are increasingly called upon to rapidly process large volumes of data. This need expands beyond laboratory results, case reports, and immunizations to additional information contained in the electronic health record (EHR) and other data sources. While investments and progress in the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic public health data have been made, challenges remain.

Assembling stakeholders to identify and address these challenges is a key priority of Helios. Under Altarum’s management, the program has identified the following priority areas to focus on through 2023:

• Ensuring authorized users of immunization information systems can access vaccination data in bulk;
• identifying commonalities and optimal ways for public health to access data in EHRs that would not be easily available under existing data channels; and
• providing public health critical aggregate data needed for healthcare situational awareness, resource capacity during emergencies, and other events of public health importance.

In addition to meeting public health interoperability challenges through the refinement, adoption, and implementation of FHIR standards, Altarum works to increase awareness of, and participation in, the Helios program. Individuals interested in working toward the fulfillment of these priority areas are encouraged to contact helios@hl7.org   

For nearly two decades, Altarum has gained a deep understanding of the complexities of incorporating patient information from multiple sources while helping public health programs integrate data, developing FHIR solutions, collaborating with major EHR vendors, partnering with state, tribal, local, and territorial organizations, and working closely with interoperability standards organizations. Through our leadership of the Hl7 Helios FHIR Accelerator for Public Health, we continue to raise the profile of standards-based interoperability in public health.