In the Cook Islands, the use of FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) for exchanging healthcare data is currently non-existent, with no active use across any of its versions (DSTU2, STU3, R4, R4B, R5, R6 pre-release). There is no expectation for the rate of adoption of FHIR to change in the coming years. This indicates a very early or preliminary stage in the adoption of FHIR standards for healthcare data exchange within the country.

Rules and Support for Health Data Exchange

  • Health Data Exchange Rules: It is unclear if there are specific regulations in place that mandate the use of standards like FHIR for electronic health data exchange. The respondent is not aware of such regulations.
  • FHIR Requirements: No information is provided regarding whether FHIR is specifically mentioned in any health data exchange regulation.
  • Deadlines and Compliance: There are no known deadlines for compliance or fines for non-compliance mentioned.
  • Funding: Government funds available to stimulate the adoption of FHIR are also unknown.

National Setup for Health Data Standards

  • Standards Organization: There is no information available about a national organization responsible for health data standards in the Cook Islands.
  • Implementation Guides: There is no base/core FHIR implementation guide available for the country, and it is unclear if any are being developed.
  • Terminology Services: The survey response does not indicate the existence of a national FHIR terminology server.

Active Use Cases

Currently, there are no active FHIR use cases mentioned in the Cook Islands. The survey indicates no usage of FHIR for local implementations, international standards, or key projects within the healthcare sector.

Who's Using FHIR

The survey does not provide details on specific organizations actively using FHIR in the Cook Islands. It mentions a lack of FHIR knowledge as a main difficulty, highlighting a significant gap in adoption.

Success Stories and Challenges

  • Benefits and Real Examples: No successful FHIR use cases have been reported, indicating a lack of clear benefits seen from FHIR implementation so far.
  • Main Difficulties: A significant obstacle mentioned is the lack of FHIR knowledge among stakeholders.
  • Future Plans: There is no anticipation of FHIR implementation use cases in the near future, with the respondent expressing no expectations for significant changes or benefits from potential FHIR adoption.

Future Plans

The outlook on FHIR adoption in the Cook Islands appears to be stagnant, with no current use, success stories, or plans for future implementation. The main challenge highlighted is a gap in knowledge about FHIR, suggesting that educational efforts may be a critical first step towards any future adoption.

Contributors

Due to the anonymity of the survey, specific contributors to this overview cannot be listed.

The above summary is based on the answers to the State of FHIR Survey 2025, organized by Firely and HL7 International.