Terminology server

A FHIR terminology server is the part of your stack that decides whether $expand returns in 50 milliseconds or three seconds, whether your LOINC codes resolve correctly when an outside lab sends them in, and whether your QuestionnaireRespon

When a FHIR pipeline drops a message, the question is not whether to recover it but how. American health systems running HL7v2-to-FHIR pipelines tend to land on one of two answers: automatic retry with exponential backoff, or manual…

Exposing a FHIR RESTful API to external consumers isn't just "turn on endpoints." Five design patterns cover most production challenges around auth, rate limits, versioning, and versioning strategy. Pattern 1: Auth server separated from resource server. SMART on FHIR mandates OAuth 2.0 with a distinct authorization server. Keycloak, Auth0, or purpose-built work. The resource server […]

Server-to-server FHIR authentication uses SMART Backend Services — the machine-to-machine cousin of SMART's patient launch. The spec is well-defined; production implementation has a few edge cases worth understanding. Client credentials + JWT assertion. The client generates a JWT signed with its private key. The auth server verifies signature against the registered public key and issues […]

The FHIR `$lookup` operation returns metadata about a coded value — display name, definition, properties, designations. Four patterns cover most production use cases. Pattern 1: Display name resolution on read. When a client reads a Coding element (e.g., Observation.code), the code is present but display might be stale or missing. Client calls $lookup to get […]

Signing a FHIR server contract without asking eight specific questions is where teams lose 6 months to unpicked-up-on gaps. The list below is what production teams actually verify before commitment. **1. Does it pass Inferno for your target profiles?** Not marketing claims — verified conformance against US Core, Da Vinci PDex, or whichever IGs matter. […]