Towards mHealth Assessment Guidelines for interoperability: HL7 FHIR

The number of health-related mobile apps (mHealth apps) has increased dramatically over the last three years. Health professionals have started recommending apps to their patients, while healthcare systems, advocacy groups, and professional societies review or commission apps of relevance to their members. Still the issues surrounding mHealth apps are strongly debated as policy makers and legislators seek to strike the right balance between a voluntary code of conduct and regulation that can offer eHealth consumers the guidance and support they need. This paper reviews the EU policy landscape surrounding mobile health focusing on issues identified in the Green paper and follow-up activities. Then, it moves on to discuss HL7 FHIR, the mHealth WG, and relevant standardization projects and reflect on the implications for large scale eHealth deployment in Europe.