What Is HL7 FHIR and Why Does Hospital Software Need It?
HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the international data-exchange standard ABDM has adopted for health records in India. It defines a common structure for things like a discharge summary, a prescription, or a lab report, so that any FHIR-compliant hospital system, lab, or insurer can read a record correctly without custom point-to-point integration for every partner.
The Practical Question to Ask a Vendor
Don't ask a vendor "are you FHIR compliant" and accept a yes. Ask specifically which documents — discharge summaries, prescriptions, diagnostic reports — are generated in FHIR format today, since partial support is common and the gap usually shows up later during an ABDM audit or an insurer integration.