The HL7 Hong Kong FHIR® Connectathon Series 2023-2024, held on November 13, 2023, at the Hong Kong Productivity Council, marked a significant step towards accelerating private health data sharing in Hong Kong. The event aimed to secure industry consent for the HL7 FHIR® eHealth Record interface specification.
The Connectathon brought together dozens of representatives from various private and public entities, including hospitals, group practices, the Hospital Authority, and Governmental bodies.
The event commenced with Ms Gladys Yip (Health Informatician, Hospital Authority) providing an introduction to eHRSS. This was followed by Ms Veronica Hung (Health Informatician, Hospital Authority), who shared a briefing on Data Standard. The key focus areas of the Connectathon, namely Patient Encounter, Medication, and GOPC PPP data download, were then elaborated upon by Mr Michael Cheung (Systems Manager, Hospital Authority).
The event concluded with Mr Pascal Tse (Chairman, HL7 HK) expressing his gratitude for the support received from all the participants, the Hospital Authority, and the eHealth Record Office of Health Bureau, HKSAR.
Participants were given exercises to practice after the meeting, and two online follow-up sessions were arranged on November 17 and November 22, 2023. These sessions addressed the difficulties encountered during the exercises and facilitated discussions among participants. The interactive online sessions were particularly appreciated by the attendees, offering hands-on experience and the opportunity to address any difficulties encountered.
We look forward to the future FHIR® Connectathon that will continue to foster collaboration and innovation in healthcare technology standards in Hong Kong, forming a mature community around FHIR.

Resources of the First Connectathon:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uTnzumuc1fbY92GjhG3rUFhOulkVLyk1?usp=sharing

Youtube Video