Supported FHIR Features
The FHIR® service in Azure Health Data Services provides a fully managed deployment of the open-source FHIR Server and is an implementation of the FHIR standard. This article lists the main features of the FHIR service.
FHIR version
Latest version supported: 4.0.1
Previous versions also currently supported include: 3.0.2
REST API
Here's a summary of the supported RESTful capabilities. For more information on the implementation of these capabilities, see FHIR REST API capabilities.
| API | Azure API for FHIR | FHIR service in Azure Health Data Services | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| read | Yes | Yes | |
| vread | Yes | Yes | |
| update | Yes | Yes | |
| update with optimistic locking | Yes | Yes | |
| update (conditional) | Yes | Yes | |
| patch | Yes | Yes | Support for JSON Patch and FHIRPath Patch only. |
| patch (conditional) | Yes | Yes | Support for JSON Patch and FHIRPath Patch only. |
| history | Yes | Yes | |
| create | Yes | Yes | Support both POST/PUT |
| create (conditional) | Yes | Yes | Issue #1382 |
| search | Partial | Partial | See Overview of FHIR Search. |
| chained search | Yes | Yes | |
| reverse chained search | Yes | Yes | |
| batch | Yes | Yes | |
| transaction | No | Yes | |
| paging | Partial | Partial | self and next are supported |
| intermediaries | No | No |
Extended Operations
All the operations that are supported that extend the REST API.
| Search parameter type | Azure API for FHIR | FHIR service in Azure Health Data Services | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| $export (whole system) | Yes | Yes | Supports system, group, and patient. |
| $convert-data | Yes | Yes | |
| $validate | Yes | Yes | |
| $member-match | Yes | Yes | |
| $patient-everything | Yes | Yes | |
| $purge-history | Yes | Yes | |
| $import | No | Yes | |
| $bulk-delete | Yes | Yes |
Role-based access control
FHIR service uses Microsoft Entra ID for access control. SMART on FHIR Implementation Guide defines access to FHIR resource types with scopes. These scopes impact the access an application may have to FHIR resources. A user with the SMART user role has access to perform read API interactions on FHIR service. SMART user role does not grant write access to FHIR service.
Service limits
- Bundle size - Each bundle is limited to 500 items.
- Subscription Limit - By default, each subscription is limited to a maximum of 10 FHIR services. The limit can be used in one or many workspaces.
- Storage size - By default each FHIR instance is limited to storage capacity of 4 TB. To deploy a FHIR instance with storage capacity beyond 4 TB, create support request with Issue type Service and Subscription limit (quotas).
Next steps
Note
FHIR® is a registered trademark of HL7 and is used with the permission of HL7.