Accelerating Data Exchange in Public Health: Insights from Public Health FHIR Pilots
August 07, 2025 | Ashley Ottewell, Elizabeth Ruebush, Ankur Jain
Timely, accurate, and interoperable data are essential for public health agencies to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®), a standard developed by Health Level Seven International (HL7®), enables secure, flexible, and scalable health data exchange. Between 2022 and 2025, seven health departments and one health information exchange launched a series of FHIR pilot projects to strengthen FHIR maturity and advance public health data exchange capabilities.
This report presents an overview of those pilots, examining approaches to unidirectional and bidirectional exchange. It also identifies key successes, challenges, and lessons to inform continued FHIR adoption across state/local public health agencies and their health care partners.