FHIR® to DHIS2: bridging two standards

HISP Zimbabwe built an integration that connects HL7® FHIR®-based clinical systems with DHIS2, the national health reporting platform. Patient-level data recorded at the point of care is mapped to DHIS2 data elements, programmes and organisation units and submitted automatically, so facilities no longer have to re-capture the same figures for monthly reporting.

Developed with the University of Oslo, the integration is configuration-driven and forms part of our open health-information-system integration service, giving programmes a reusable path between clinical records and aggregate reporting.

Clinical systems increasingly speak HL7® FHIR®, while national reporting runs on DHIS2. Where the two are not connected, the same information is captured twice: once at the point of care and again on paper or in a spreadsheet for the monthly report. Re-entry costs time, introduces errors and delays the figures that programme managers rely on.

The partner needed clinical and aggregate data to move between the two standards without changing how either system is used day to day.

HISP Zimbabwe designed the mapping between FHIR® resources and DHIS2 data elements, programmes and organisation units, implemented the integration layer and tested it with the partner teams. The work was carried out with the University of Oslo, which maintains DHIS2.

FHIR® resources are read from the source system, transformed into DHIS2 payloads and submitted through the DHIS2 Web API. Mappings are held as configuration rather than code, so new resources and data elements can be added without redevelopment. Validation reports flag records that cannot be matched to an organisation unit or option set so they can be corrected at source.

The integration is part of our open health-information-system integration service; DHIS2 to FHIR® exchange is complete and further standards are planned.

Data captured once in the clinical system now reaches DHIS2 without re-entry, and the partner can see clinical and aggregate figures side by side. The mapping configuration and documentation were handed over so the partner team can maintain and extend the exchange.