Frequently Asked Questions
Have questions about how toFHIR works or what it can do for your organization? Explore our FAQs to find answers to common queries and learn how to get the most out of toFHIR.
General
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What is toFHIR, and how does it work?
toFHIR is a powerful ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool that transforms healthcare data from various sources into HL7 FHIR® resources. Through its highly-functional web-based interface, you can configure the mappings, test them and execute them to generate corresponding FHIR resources and load them to a FHIR server.
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Who can benefit from using toFHIR?
toFHIR is ideal for hospitals, regional health services or any healthcare organizations looking to enable data interoperability across different healthcare systems, prepare healthcare data for research or clinical use in FHIR format, and implement HL7 FHIR® standards within their infrastructure without extensive coding expertise.
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What do I need to get started with toFHIR?
You will need access to your data sources, a basic understanding of your data structure, and a deployment environment for toFHIR (local, cloud, or containerized setup). Our team can assist you with the setup and configuration.
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Is toFHIR open-source, or do I need to purchase a license?
toFHIR offers an open-source version that allows you to freely test its core functionality. For enhanced features such as a web-based graphical interface, high-performance scalability, advanced mapping configurations, and dedicated support, the toFHIR Enterprise license is available.
Mapping Development
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How long does it take to learn to develop mappings effectively with toFHIR?
With its intuitive interface and guided tutorials, users can learn the basics of developing mappings within a few hours. Advanced mappings using the FHIRPath editor may take additional time based on your familiarity with the FHIR standard and FHIRPath expressions.
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How long does it take to develop mappings to HL7 FHIR® within a healthcare organization?
With our team’s professional services, an initial set of mappings can be developed within 1 month given that all source data, data schema, required documentation and the infrastructure are available during the development. With extensive tests, archiving and security configurations, generally we make everything operational within 3 months.
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What if I need to map to specific FHIR profiles, such as US Core profiles?
During mapping development, it is quite easy to provide the target profiles for the resource types for which the mappings are being developed. On the other hand, toFHIR can automatically process profile definitions and guide the user during the mapping development accordingly.
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Is it possible to map my data to both FHIR resources and a flat data structure?
Yes, toFHIR allows flexibility in transformations. You can configure mappings to produce both FHIR resources and a flat data structure as needed. This means, toFHIR can read FHIR resources and map them to flat structures such as CSV files.
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Can I use different tables from multiple database systems while mapping to a single FHIR resource?
Yes, toFHIR can aggregate data from different data sources (e.g., some from a relational database, some from CSV files) to map to a single FHIR resource. 1-to-1, 1-to-many and many-to-1 mappings are possible.
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Can I use my own terminology server during the mapping process?
Yes, toFHIR supports external terminology servers provided that it conforms to FHIR Terminology Server specification.
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How does toFHIR handle code system translations, such as ICD-10 or LOINC? What terminology systems are supported?
toFHIR can automatically integrate FHIR terminology servers and the corresponding terminology service function calls (within FHIRPath) interacts with the configured terminology server. On the other hand, toFHIR ships with a local terminology server to which code systems, value sets and terminology translations can be loaded and then used during the mappings.
Integration and Compatibility
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Which data source types are supported by toFHIR?
toFHIR supports a wide range of data sources, including file systems (Excel, CSV, TSV, JSON, Parquet), SQL databases, REDCap projects, FHIR endpoints, and Apache Kafka streams. When possible, these sources can be configured as streaming sources so that toFHIR processes every newcoming or updated source data.
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Can toFHIR integrate with platforms like REDCap or LimeSurvey as data sources?
Yes, toFHIR can connect to platforms like REDCap and LimeSurvey and allows you to use their data within your mappings. That is, REDCap or LimeSurvey results can be mapped to corresponding FHIR resources.
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How does toFHIR write or save FHIR resources after mapping?
Based on your preference, created FHIR resources can be sent to a FHIR server (such as onFHIR, HAPI, Firely etc.) or saved to the file system in NDJSON format or Parquet format.
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I don’t have a FHIR repository server. Can toFHIR help me set one up?
toFHIR belongs to an ecosystem of products that we develop around FHIR. We offer onFHIR that is a high-performant FHIR repository. You can also use its limited open-source version to test your toFHIR installation.
Testing and Validation
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What tools does toFHIR offer to ensure my mappings comply with FHIR standards?
toFHIR provides an automated environment for testing and validating mappings and scripts at any stage of development. It offers a powerful FHIRPath editor with smart auto-completion to making it easier to create accurate mappings. Additionally, toFHIR includes validation tools to verify that the generated FHIR resources conform to their respective FHIR profiles.
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Can toFHIR upgrade my existing FHIR R4 resources to the R5 version?
Yes, toFHIR supports mappings from FHIR R4 to R5. We already have the mappings from FHIR R4 to R5, that is, once you connect toFHIR to your data, you can transform to R5 right away.
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Do I need to use toFHIR every time new data needs to be mapped to my FHIR repository?
Not necessarily. Once mappings are configured, toFHIR can automate the process and allow you to reuse mappings for recurring data transformations. This can be done through scheduled executions within toFHIR or by configuring your source as a stream.
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Does toFHIR support batch and streaming data processing?
Yes, toFHIR supports both batch processing and real-time streaming for continuous data ingestion.
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Can I configure and monitor mapping execution directly from the toFHIR web interface?
Yes, toFHIR provides a user-friendly web interface where you can set up and customize your mappings and monitor the execution of mapping processing in real-time through an execution monitoring platform.
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What support is available if I encounter issues while using toFHIR?
Our dedicated support team is available to assist with technical issues, provide guidance, and resolve any challenges you encounter. Support plans are included with the Enterprise license.
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Do you offer professional services to help with integration and implementation?
Yes, we offer professional integration services to help you develop mappings on toFHIR quickly and effectively. Our team will help you to transform your data to be HL7 FHIR-ready while meeting your specific requirements.