A Journey from Paper to Fingertips with FHIR ePI: Transforming Medicinal Information

Right now, information about medicines, including things like package instructions (“paper in the pack”), labels, and details about the product, comes in the form of paper and is attached to each medicine you get in the EU. 

The Gravitate Health Project, with the active involvement of Trifork, has achieved a milestone by creating a guide for electronic Medicinal Product Information (ePI) based on FHIR, and approved and published by HL7 and ready for trial use. It is a big step forward as it encourages the use of FHIR ePI all around the world. 

What is FHIR? 

In simple terms, it is as a way for different healthcare systems and devices to quickly share information. Working together with Vulcan HL7® FHIR® Accelerator, we’ve crafted a guide for Electronic Medicinal Product Information (ePI), making essential details about medications easily available. 

“A game-changing moment, where we can start working intelligently with ePI (that’s electronic Medicinal Product Information – what you might know as package leaflets) instead of just dealing with a piece of paper,”  

says Jens Kristian Villadsen, CTO Trifork, and Chairman of HL7 in Denmark.

Benefits and Gains from the FHIR Implementation Guide: 

Global Impact: The approval of this guide paves the way for widespread use of FHIR ePI across multiple countries. 
Improved Collaboration: The Gravitate Health Project convened experts to create this guide. 

Efficient Data Sharing: FHIR ensures smooth communication between healthcare systems and devices. 
Easy Access: Patients and healthcare professionals alike can effortlessly tap into reliable and up-to-date medication information. 
User-Focused Design: The guide’s digital format comes with search capabilities and features for better accessibility. 
Innovative Approach: This guide sets a whole new standard for presenting Medicinal Product Information. 
Regulatory Collaboration: Regulatory bodies from different corners of the world are uniting for a common purpose. 

This guide ensures that patients and healthcare professionals worldwide can readily access trusted and up-to-date Medicinal Product Information. Unlike traditional paper or PDF formats, the FHIR ePI implementation guide addresses users’ needs more effectively, especially for patients. It comes with upgraded searchability, better accessibility support, and easy customization options like adjusting font sizes. 

This milestone is important because it has never been done before. Collecting consensus among various regulatory bodies to adopt a shared standard for presenting Medicinal Product Information is a challenging task. Our partnership has allowed us to prototype this system in a Danish context, using our in-depth knowledge and experience as a reliable supplier within Digital Health for more than 20 years. 

“This milestone could have a major positive impact, as it aims to make medication information much easier for people around the world to understand and access.” 

Jens Kristian Villadsen, CTO Trifork Digital Health

In conclusion, this significant step forward enhances healthcare interoperability and empowers patients with better access to crucial Medicinal Product Information. We are excited about the potential positive changes it can bring to the healthcare industry on a global scale. Let’s continue to drive digital health innovation and empower patients and healthcare professionals.