An independent review of the Sparked Program has suggested the development of a national and overarching FHIR Standards Roadmap to build stakeholders’ confidence in committing to change.

“While the Australian Government has been actively involved in Sparked, a national FHIR Standards Roadmap would assist a range of stakeholders to be confident in committing to invest in change,” the report says.

“Statements could set out themes or directions noting the multi-year requirements and incremental change in market maturity of products with adoption and use of the standards developed through the Sparked program.”

The  Sparked Program review Evaluation Report 2023-2025 of the Health Level Seven (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Accelerator Program (Sparked) was commissioned by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and undertaken by digital health consultancy Voronoi. The program was reviewed with feedback points over an 18-month period.

“Highly effective”

The review found the Sparked accelerator to be “highly effective” in forming a vibrant community and building detailed draft standards through a collaborative process.

“Clinical design and technical design streams have worked well to gather the clinical input for the core areas and to rapidly produce technical standards for ballot.

“Developing standards is a fundamental foundation, but interoperable solutions need many other elements that are not in scope for Sparked.”

The report questions: How will these be addressed?

“There needs to be a programmatic view of standards requirements and roadmap of strategic projects to create market certainty to support change.

“Vendors need confidence that investing for interoperability will grow business. Health provider organisations need a marketplace of trusted and standards-based interoperable solutions to buy from.

“Clinicians need confidence that health information shared through interoperable systems connected with FHIR is fit for purpose. Sparked is central to this space, but more is needed in relation to other standards, strategies, and plans.

“Standards adoption may need mandate and incentives. The Sparked community are looking to the Australian Government for guidance and certainty,” the report says.

Sparked is a funded program of the Department of Health, Disability, and Ageing (the Department) in partnership with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency), and HL7 Australia (HL7 AU). CSIRO plays a key role as the program lead and coordinator of the activity.

Key findings

• Community engagement and FHIR awareness – Sparked has been successful in its community–building approach and in engaging with industry and clinical audience to participate in foundational FHIR standards development. The program has assisted in highlighting and creating awareness in FHIR and standards across the sector.

• Standards development and accelerator model – innovative model to fast-track and enhance existing standards development processes and capability. Contributors noted that Sparked was a great example of co-design to engage a wide audience to participate. The Australian Government’s visible presence and commitment was a critical element to program success.

• Program delivery and outputs: Stakeholders agreed the program was well run and coordinated, with incremental improvements made during development. Standards outputs are fit-for-purpose. Some challenges were noted with ongoing participation in the program because of high contact requirements involved with the accelerator model.

• Governance and operating model: A Target Operating Model has been developed and is awaiting publication. There has been no confirmation on sustainability of ongoing model yet. The standards development governance and processes were refined during the program. Questions remain on the overall governance and endorsement of standards against other program activities and approvals which are still in progress.

• Adoption and use: There is some progress towards FHIR adoption and capability in the market. However, industry is looking for direction and / or incentives for change to create certainty for investment in FHIR-enabled products. State and Territory jurisdictions are looking to transition to FHIR over time, balancing against other priorities and with budget constraints to be managed. Testing and conformance regime for FHIR-capable products is still to be clarified as the market continues to mature and understand an evolving regulatory and compliance model.

The report says “Overall, the Sparked program has been a success in delivery of a department–led program delivering consensus on standards in a challenging multi-diverse stakeholder environment. Challenges remain about setting up the next steps to support and drive industry adoption and use.”