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As part of its 'fresh look' activity, Grahame Grieve at Health Intersections has produced a set of simplified data types that solves a lot of the problems of ISO 21090, and addresses many of the needs of openEHR data types. It may become a new specification within HL7 or elsewhere, and is a candidate data types model for CIMI. These data types are part of a larger piece of work called Fast Health Information Resources (FHIR). This work is gathering pace in HL7, so it seems a worthwhile point to consider its possible impact on openEHR.
There are two types of analysis we can do on the FHIR data types. The obvious one is to do with information representation needs, i.e. a gap analysis of the FHIR data types versus the openEHR data types. This is a relatively detailed analysis to carry out, and will take some time. It is needed to determine how to convert FHIR-based data (e.g. HL7 messages of the future) in and out of openEHR data.
The second kind of analysis is to do with archetyping. We ask the question: could FHIR data types satisfy the requirements met by the current openEHR data types (DV_CODED_TEXT, DV_QUANTITY, and friends), remembering that archetyping needs are generally a subset of information persistence and communication needs. To give a simple example: the data type DV_QUANTITY in openEHR has a precision attribute, but not one of the 250+ CKM archetypes mentions it. This analysis is easier to perform, and its outcome enables us to know if FHIR data types could be used for archetyping purposes.
Archetyping Requirements
The analysis below is structured according to the question: for every aspect of each openEHR data type that appears in openEHR archetypes, how would the same thing be done with FHIR data types? Accordingly the analysis has the openEHR types on the left.