Converting your data to FHIR for Azure API for FHIR

The $convert-data custom endpoint in the FHIR service is meant for data conversion from different data types to FHIR. It uses the Liquid template engine and the templates from the FHIR Converter project as the default templates. You can customize these conversion templates as needed.

Currently the $convert-data custom endpoint supports four types of data conversion:

Use the $convert-data endpoint

The $convert-data operation is integrated into the FHIR service to run as part of the service. After enabling $convert-data in your server, you can make API calls to the server to convert your data into FHIR: https://<<FHIR service base URL>>/$convert-data

Parameter Resource

$convert-data takes a Parameter resource in the request body as described in the table below. In the API call request body, you would include the following parameters:

Sample Request

{
    "resourceType": "Parameters",
    "parameter": [
        {
            "name": "inputData",
            "valueString": "MSH|^~\\&|SIMHOSP|SFAC|RAPP|RFAC|20200508131015||ADT^A01|517|T|2.3|||AL||44|ASCII\nEVN|A01|20200508131015|||C005^Whittingham^Sylvia^^^Dr^^^DRNBR^D^^^ORGDR|\nPID|1|3735064194^^^SIMULATOR MRN^MRN|3735064194^^^SIMULATOR MRN^MRN~2021051528^^^NHSNBR^NHSNMBR||Kinmonth^Joanna^Chelsea^^Ms^^D||19870624000000|F|||89 Transaction House^Handmaiden Street^Wembley^^FV75 4GJ^GBR^HOME||020 3614 5541^PRN|||||||||C^White - Other^^^||||||||\nPD1|||FAMILY PRACTICE^^12345|\nPV1|1|I|OtherWard^MainRoom^Bed 183^Simulated Hospital^^BED^Main Building^4|28b|||C005^Whittingham^Sylvia^^^Dr^^^DRNBR^D^^^ORGDR|||CAR|||||||||16094728916771313876^^^^visitid||||||||||||||||||||||ARRIVED|||20200508131015||"
        },
        {
            "name": "inputDataType",
            "valueString": "Hl7v2"
        },
        {
            "name": "templateCollectionReference",
            "valueString": "microsofthealth/fhirconverter:default"
        },
        {
            "name": "rootTemplate",
            "valueString": "ADT_A01"
        }
    ]
}

Sample Response

{
  "resourceType": "Bundle",
  "type": "transaction",
  "entry": [
    {
      "fullUrl": "urn:uuid:9d697ec3-48c3-3e17-db6a-29a1765e22c6",
      "resource": {
        "resourceType": "Patient",
        "id": "9d697ec3-48c3-3e17-db6a-29a1765e22c6",
        ...
        ...
      "request": {
        "method": "PUT",
        "url": "Location/50becdb5-ff56-56c6-40a1-6d554dca80f0"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Customize templates

You can use the FHIR Converter extension for Visual Studio Code to customize the templates as per your needs. The extension provides an interactive editing experience, and makes it easy to download Microsoft-published templates and sample data. Refer to the documentation in the extension for more details.

Host and use templates

It's recommended that you host your own copy of templates on ACR. There are four steps involved in hosting your own copy of templates and using those in the $convert-data operation:

1. Push the templates to your Azure Container Registry.
2. Enable Managed Identity on your Azure API for FHIR instance.
3. Provide access of the ACR to the Azure API for FHIR Managed Identity.
4. Register the ACR servers in the Azure API for FHIR.
5. Optionally configure ACR firewall for secure access.

Push templates to Azure Container Registry

After creating an ACR instance, you can use the FHIR Converter: Push Templates command in the FHIR Converter extension to push the customized templates to the ACR. Alternatively, you can use the Template Management CLI tool for this purpose.

Enable Managed Identity on Azure API for FHIR

Browse to your instance of Azure API for FHIR service in the Azure portal, and then select the Identity blade. Change the status to On to enable managed identity in Azure API for FHIR.

Provide access of the ACR to Azure API for FHIR

1. Browse to the Access control (IAM) blade.

2. Select Add, and then select Add role assignment to open the Add role assignment page.

3. Assign the AcrPull role.

   

For more information about assigning roles in the Azure portal, see Azure built-in roles.

Register the ACR servers in Azure API for FHIR

You can register the ACR server using the Azure portal, or using CLI.

Registering the ACR server using Azure portal

Browse to the Artifacts blade under Data transformation in your Azure API for FHIR instance. You'll see the list of currently registered ACR servers. Select Add, and then select your registry server from the drop-down menu. You'll need to select Save for the registration to take effect. It may take a few minutes to apply the change and restart your instance.

Registering the ACR server using CLI

You can register up to 20 ACR servers in the Azure API for FHIR.

Install Azure Health Data Services CLI from Azure PowerShell if needed:

az extension add -n healthcareapis

Register the acr servers to Azure API for FHIR following the examples below:

Register a single ACR server

az healthcareapis acr add --login-servers "fhiracr2021.azurecr.io" --resource-group fhir-test --resource-name fhirtest2021

Register multiple ACR servers

az healthcareapis acr add --login-servers "fhiracr2021.azurecr.io fhiracr2020.azurecr.io" --resource-group fhir-test --resource-name fhirtest2021

Configure ACR firewall

Select Networking of the Azure storage account from the portal.

Select Selected networks.

Under the Firewall section, specify the IP address in the Address range box. Add IP ranges to allow access from the internet or your on-premises networks.

In the table below, you'll find the IP address for the Azure region where the Azure API for FHIR service is provisioned.

Verify

Make a call to the $convert-data API specifying your template reference in the templateCollectionReference parameter.

<RegistryServer>/<imageName>@<imageDigest>

Next steps

In this article, you learned about data conversion for Azure API for FHIR. For more information about related GitHub Projects for Azure API for FHIR, see

FHIR® is a registered trademark of HL7 and is used with the permission of HL7.