This extensively updated fourth edition expands the discussion of FHIR (Fast Health Interoperability Resources), which has rapidly become the most important health interoperability standard globally. FHIR can be implemented at a fraction of the price of existing alternatives and is well suited for use in mobile phone apps, cloud communications and electronic health records. FHIR combines the best features of HL7's v2, v3 and CDA while leveraging the latest web standards and clinical terminologies, with a tight focus on implementation.

Tim Benson graduated from the University of Nottingham as a mechanical engineer. He founded one of the first GP computer suppliers (Abies Informatics Ltd). There, with James Read and David Markwell, he helped develop the Read Codes, which became one of the two sources of SNOMED CT.  He led the first European project team on open standards for health interoperability and was a co-chair of the HL7 Education Committee for several years.  He has developed a family of short generic outcome and experience measures (PROMs and PREMs) with R-Outcomes Ltd. 

Grahame Grieve is FHIR Product Director at HL7 and is the founder of FHIR. Grahame travels the world giving lectures, guiding connectathons and advising governments, vendors and care providers about all aspects of interoperability. He graduated from the University of Auckland as a biochemist, worked as a clinical diagnostic scientist and medical researcher before joining Kestral Computing P/L, a Laboratory and Imaging Information Systems vendor and then setting up Health Intersections Ltd. A growing involvement in integration and interoperability lead him to the HL7 community where he has led committees and edited standards for HL7 v2, v3 and CDA. The outcome of this was to recognize that something new was needed, which led to the creation of the FHIR specification.