Mirth Connect & FHIR: Supporting Modern Healthcare Data Standards
Healthcare businesses are under increasing pressure to communicate data safely and promptly due to regulations and market trends. Standardized data interchange is required in the US by laws like HIPAA and the 21st Century Cures Act. Solutions must link new FHIR-based workflows to outdated systems without replacing current EHRs.
In this sense, the open-source healthcare connectivity engine Mirth Connect excels. Rapid and economical integrations are made possible by its native support for HL7 v2/v3, FHIR, DICOM, JSON, XML, and other protocols. Businesses all over the world use Mirth to route, validate, and convert messages. By fusing the flexibility of Mirth Connect with the state-of-the-art APIs of FHIR, healthcare IT professionals can achieve seamless interoperability while maintaining security and compliance.
MirthConnect and FHIR
MirthConnect is a popular integration engine in the healthcare industry. It enables data exchange between different healthcare systems and apps. MirthConnect can be used to distribute FHIR resources because it fully supports the FHIR specification.
MirthConnect can handle FHIR thanks to its built-in FHIR Connector. Sharing FHIR resources with other healthcare systems is made simple by the FHIR Connector.
- Users can create and send FHIR resources to other systems with the MirthConnect FHIR Connector.
- The graphical user interface of MirthConnect can be used to manually create FHIR resources or import them from other systems.
- Once developed, FHIR resources can be mapped to various formats and altered as needed.
- FHIR RESTful APIs, which are supported by MirthConnect’s FHIR Connector, facilitate the retrieval of medical data through contemporary online technologies.
FHIR subscriptions are now supported by MirthConnect’s FHIR Connector. Subscriptions to FHIR make it possible to receive real-time alerts when medical data changes.
Applications such as clinical decision support and patient monitoring benefit greatly from this. MirthConnect’s FHIR Subscriptions feature allows users to subscribe to particular FHIR resources and get alerts when those resources are updated.
Related: Mirth Connect for Healthcare Integration: A Complete 2025 Guide
How Mirth Connect Bridges HL7 and FHIR Standards
Mirth Connect is purpose-built for healthcare messaging. It provides an FHIR Connector and a REST API for real-time FHIR resource exchange. Mirth, for example, can send a standard FHIR Bundle over HTTP/S after receiving an HL7 v2 message from an EHR and mapping its fields to FHIR resources. This functions as a FHIR façade or “bridge” in front of legacy systems: Mirth uses FHIR APIs to expose and modify data rather than rewriting the EHR. Notably, NextGen Healthcare uses Mirth to create patient-facing FHIR APIs on top of traditional EHRs.
When Mirth receives a request for patient allergies or lab results, it records the FHIR REST call, queries the EHR, converts the response to FHIR JSON, and returns it to the mobile app. Mirth Connect can connect on-premise systems to modern data repositories via the cloud. This AWS architectural example demonstrates how Mirth’s HL7-to-FHIR converter exports FHIR R4 resources to a cloud FHIR repository after ingesting HL7 data from an EHR.
The standardized FHIR data is then processed by analytical tools and AI services. This highlights how Mirth enables older EHRs to participate in standards-compliant, real-time data pipelines.
Key Technical Features
FHIR Resource Handling
- Mirth’s integrated FHIR Connector allows users to input raw FHIR JSON or use a visual interface to create, send, and receive resources (such as patient and observation data).
- It enables external apps and portals to access and write data through Mirth by enabling FHIR RESTful operations (GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE).
Subscriptions & Eventing
- When data changes, Mirth can subscribe to FHIR resources to trigger downstream processes or real-time alerts.
- This is ideal for hospital notifications and patient monitoring. For example, Mirth’s FHIR Subscription can automatically alert the care team when a new lab result (observation) is available.
HL7-to-FHIR Transformations
- Mirth’s ability to convert HL7 to FHIR is excellent.
- It provides scripting (Python, JavaScript) and pre-built templates for mapping segments to FHIR resource fields.
- For example, an HL7 ORU message containing lab values can be converted into many FHIR Observation resources.
- As a result of this harmonization of varied data, downstream clients see only FHIR-standard material.
Related: HL7 to FHIR Conversion: Complexities in Automating Health Data Conversion
RESTful API Layer
- Besides FHIR, Mirth can expose any integration channel as an HTTP/REST endpoint.
- This lets Mirth act as the API interface for older systems.
- Healthcare teams often configure an HTTP Listener in Mirth that wraps legacy queries in a modern REST call.
- Non-FHIR clients can query patient data via REST, while Mirth handles the HL7 back-end.
SMART on FHIR Support
- Mirth can support SMART on FHIR workflows by serving as the backend FHIR server.
- In practice, an OAuth2-compliant app launch can hit Mirth’s REST endpoints, which fetch and return FHIR data.
- NextGen’s case study shows a “Patient Access API” built on Mirth that complies with SMART standards.
- This enables patient apps on devices to securely retrieve and use health records.
Mirth also supports all traditional formats and protocols. Its extensive connector library means it can integrate with almost any system.
Business Advantages of Using Mirth Connect and FHIR
- The use of pre-built connections and templates reduces development time. The visual debugger helps to spot mapping errors early on, and Mirth channels can be easily copied and changed. Mirth can reduce rollout time by months as compared to manually developing point-to-point interfaces.
- By implementing FHIR-centric pipelines, the company is well-positioned for future endeavors (telehealth, genomics, and IoT). For example, remote monitoring programs can be facilitated by using wearable devices to broadcast patient vitals, which Mirth can subsequently convert into FHIR Observations in the EHR.
- Organizations can employ analytics systems by standardizing their data in FHIR. As seen in the AWS example, Mirth converted raw HL7 in S3 to FHIR in HealthLake, which Athena and QuickSight then queried. This enables more complicated applications, such as generative AI summarizing patient groupings or predictive population health analytics.
- Mirth’s open architecture helps to prevent vendor lock-in. Hospitals have control over the flows and can change downstream services (cloud, database, and EHR provider) without rewriting all of the interfaces.
Best practices for using MirthConnect with FHIR
MirthConnect is an excellent choice for healthcare firms looking to leverage the latest standards for healthcare data exchange, thanks to its support for FHIR. The following are recommended processes for combining MirthConnect and FHIR:
Stay up to date with FHIR releases
FHIR is a dynamic standard, so the upgrades and new versions are constantly released. To ensure that your MirthConnect implementation is utilizing the most recent FHIR features and capabilities, it is vital to stay current with the most recent versions and upgrades.
Plan your FHIR implementation
Before adding FHIR into your MirthConnect system, make sure to carefully analyze your implementation strategy. This includes deciding which FHIR resources you want to utilize, which systems you’ll be sharing data with, and whether you need any additions or modifications.
Use FHIR profiles
FHIR profiles allow you to define specific subsets of FHIR resources that are appropriate for a given use case. FHIR profiles allow you to ensure that the data you share is consistent and organized based on your use case.
Related: How FHIR Resources and Profiles Power Modern Health Interoperability
Test your implementation
It is critical to thoroughly test your FHIR implementation in a development or testing environment before bringing it into production mode. This can ensure that your implementation is running smoothly and assist in discovering any issues or errors that may arise during the process.
Consider employing FHIR servers.
FHIR servers facilitate healthcare data administration and exchange by providing a centralized repository for FHIR resources. MirthConnect supports FHIR servers, which can be configured to serve as data sources or destinations.
Use MirthConnect’s built-in FHIR capabilities
MirthConnect’s integrated FHIR capabilities, the FHIR Connector and FHIR Subscriptions, provide a robust and versatile means of exchanging medical data via FHIR. Using these elements is critical for guaranteeing the success and efficiency of your installation.
Train your staff
Last but not least, equip your personnel with FHIR and MirthConnect training to ensure they are up to date on the latest best practices and standards for healthcare data exchange. This can help ensure that your implementation goes well and that your firm derives full advantage from FHIR and MirthConnect.
Comparison Table
A comparison of integration platforms highlights Mirth’s strengths. Unlike many commercial engines, Mirth scales without per-interface fees and supports FHIR “out of the box”. Its extensibility gives IT teams the flexibility to meet any use case.
|
Capability/Aspect |
Mirth Connect |
Rhapsody Corepoint |
Infor Cloverleaf |
|
Standards Support |
HL7 v2/v3, CDA, DICOM, X12, IHE; Full FHIR support via built-in connector |
HL7 v2/v3, CDA, DICOM, X12; Native FHIR adapters and JSON APIs |
HL7 v2/v3, CDA, DICOM, X12; FHIR support with adapter libraries |
|
FHIR Capability |
Ingests/converts HL7 to FHIR; exposes FHIR REST APIs; supports SMART on FHIR apps |
Can serve FHIR APIs (may need customization); offers FHIR templates |
Offers FHIR adapters and mapping; web-services support |
|
REST/SMART Support |
Yes – HTTP Listeners, OAuth2; SMART-on-FHIR patterns with launch endpoints |
Yes – REST listeners; OAuth (via add-ons) |
Yes – SOAP/REST listeners; OAuth optional |
|
Licensing & Cost |
Free core (community); Premium supported edition; No per-channel fees |
Commercial license (node-based); recurring fees |
Commercial license; typically per CPU/instance |
|
Deployment Options |
On-prem or cloud (AWS, Azure, containers); Managed service (NextGen Mirth Cloud) |
On-prem & cloud (Corepoint in Locker Mode); multi-tenant |
On-prem & AWS; built-in HA and failover |
|
Security & Compliance |
HIPAA-compliant with TLS, encryption, audit logging, and RBAC; managed solutions offer “built-in HIPAA compliance.” |
Enterprise security features, audit logs, and FHIR compliance modules |
Enterprise security, audit logs, and strong HA features |
|
Data Transformation |
JavaScript, Velocity, and other transformers; FHIR Mapping Language support |
Drag/drop mapping; pre-built actions; complex rule support |
Graphical mapping; enterprise-grade transformation engine |
|
Monitoring & Support |
Real-time dashboards; open-source community; 24/7 support (premium) |
Built-in monitoring, commercial support, and a KLAS high ranking |
Advanced monitoring; vendor support SLAs |
|
Scalability |
Horizontally scalable (add instances); proven in large HIEs and multi-site networks |
Highly scalable; used by large health systems globally |
Cloud-native scaling; Elastic Interfaces; high throughput |
|
Typical Use Cases |
EHR-to-EHR/HIE exchange; HL7–>FHIR bridges; patient apps (Portal/APIs); telehealth integration |
Multi-site EHR consolidation; large-scale HIE; government projects |
HIEs; insurance/EHR integration; lab networks; federal exchange |
Real-World Use Cases of Mirth Connect and FHIR Integration
Mirth Connect’s flexibility has enabled many real-world FHIR integrations:
HL7-to-FHIR Data Migration
A regional health system used Mirth to transform a backlog of old HL7 lab and radiology messages into FHIR Observations, which were then stored in a new FHIR repository. This allowed modern EHR modules and analytics apps to consume historical data via FHIR APIs.
Patient Access and Portals
Hospitals use Mirth to satisfy the “right of the patient” access. Patient portals (or apps like Apple Health) collect vital signs, demographics, and allergies via FHIR calls to Mirth, which retrieves information from the primary EHR. This connects modern app frameworks to obsolete systems.
EHR Interoperability
A multi-hospital network replaced older point-to-point interfaces with Mirth channels. For example, ADT (admissions) messages from one facility’s EHR were converted by Mirth into FHIR Bundles and routed to a central hospital’s system. This streamlined patient lookup across campuses.
Health Information Exchange
Incoming EHR messages (discharge summaries, CCDs) were routed through Mirth, turned into FHIR resources, and then sent to a community FHIR server in one HIE experiment. Outside clinics could utilize a standardized FHIR API to query patient histories.
Quality and Reporting
Mirth can extract clinical data using HL7 or SQL queries and deliver it to registries in the appropriate format. For example, it can send standardized immunization data to public health organizations or transform a batch of patient records into FHIR bundles for a CMS quality measurement API.
Telehealth and Remote Monitoring
Mirth can handle biometric data from connected devices like wearables and home monitoring. Telehealth systems may readily connect to in-hospital data thanks to the engine’s translation of multiple inputs into FHIR (such as streaming glucose levels into FHIR Observation profiles).
These examples demonstrate that Mirth Connect is not only technically competent but also a business enabler, allowing for smoother provider networks, more comprehensive patient data, and faster onboarding of new clinics.
As one success story noted, Mirth helped reduce lab result delays by 30%, directly improving patient care speed. By contrast, without Mirth, the organization would have had to invest in costly custom development or multiple interface engines.
Mirth Connect & FHIR Integration Service by CapMinds
Achieving modern interoperability requires disciplined architecture, healthcare-grade engineering, and continual operational support. CapMinds’ Mirth Connect & FHIR Integration Service is designed to help healthcare enterprises install, optimize, and scale standards-based data interchange without interfering with their existing EHR investments.
As an extension of your health IT team, we ensure performance, security, and long-term maintainability while coordinating Mirth Connect and FHIR with legal obligations such as HIPAA and the 21st Century Cures Act. Our service capabilities include:
- Mirth Connect implementation, configuration, and production hardening
- HL7 v2/v3 to FHIR R4 data mapping and transformation services
- FHIR API enablement, SMART on FHIR workflows, and OAuth2 security
- Real-time FHIR Subscriptions and event-driven integration design
- Cloud and hybrid deployment (AWS, Azure, on-prem) with monitoring
- Integration testing, validation, and compliance documentation
- Ongoing support, optimization, and managed interoperability services
CapMinds helps healthcare providers, HIEs, digital health vendors, and payers move from fragmented interfaces to unified, FHIR-first interoperability layers. Beyond integration, we support analytics, AI readiness, telehealth, population health, and enterprise interoperability initiatives, and more, through a single, accountable service partner.
If your organization needs reliable, future-ready interoperability, CapMinds delivers the integration service expertise to make it operational at scale.
FAQs
1. What is Mirth Connect, and how does it support FHIR?
Mirth Connect is a healthcare integration engine that enables the exchange of clinical and administrative messages across systems. It supports major healthcare standards such as HL7 v2/v3, CDA/CCD, DICOM, X12, JSON, XML, and FHIR, making it a central hub for interoperability. Its built-in FHIR Connector lets users create, send, and transform FHIR resources and leverage RESTful APIs essential for modern data exchange.
2. What is FHIR, and why is it important in healthcare interoperability?
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is an HL7 standard designed for modern, API-based data exchange. It uses RESTful protocols and standardized resources (e.g., Patient, Observation) to simplify integration and enable real-time access to healthcare data across systems.
3. Can Mirth Connect act as a FHIR server or client?
Yes, Mirth Connect can expose FHIR endpoints (acting as a FHIR server) that respond to create/read/update/delete operations via RESTful APIs. It can also interact with external FHIR servers as a client when configured appropriately.
4. What are common use cases for Mirth Connect with FHIR?
Typical scenarios include:
- HL7-to-FHIR transformation for mobile apps and portals
- Patient Access APIs (SMART on FHIR) for patient-facing applications
- Integrating third-party vendors (analytics, telehealth platforms) with EHR data
- Exchanging standardized clinical data across hospital networks
- Real-time notifications using FHIR Subscriptions (e.g., alerts on new observations)
5. How long does it take to implement Mirth FHIR integration?
Implementation time varies based on complexity, system landscape, and integration scope. For straightforward FHIR projects, integration cycles can range from a few weeks to several months, depending on transformation rules, stakeholder alignment, and compliance requirements.
6. What formats and protocols does Mirth Connect support besides FHIR?
In addition to FHIR, Mirth handles: HL7 v2.x, HL7 v3 (including CDA/CCD), DICOM for imaging, X12 for claims, JSON, XML, REST, and SOAP. This breadth ensures comprehensive interoperability across clinical, administrative, and ancillary systems.
7. What are the technical prerequisites for using Mirth Connect with FHIR?
Typical prerequisites include:
- Up-to-date Mirth Connect installation
- FHIR Connector and REST channel setup
- Access to EHR data sources
- Security configuration (TLS, authentication)
- Defined transformation/mapping logic for target FHIR resources
8. Can Mirth Connect integrate with cloud FHIR repositories?
Yes, Mirth can integrate with cloud-based FHIR repositories like AWS HealthLake by pushing transformed FHIR resources into scalable storage and APIs, enabling analytics, population health, and AI workloads.
Healthcare businesses are under increasing pressure to communicate data safely and promptly due to regulations and market trends. Standardized data interchange is required in the US by laws like HIPAA and the 21st Century Cures Act. Solutions must link new FHIR-based workflows to outdated systems without replacing current EHRs.
In this sense, the open-source healthcare connectivity engine Mirth Connect excels. Rapid and economical integrations are made possible by its native support for HL7 v2/v3, FHIR, DICOM, JSON, XML, and other protocols. Businesses all over the world use Mirth to route, validate, and convert messages. By fusing the flexibility of Mirth Connect with the state-of-the-art APIs of FHIR, healthcare IT professionals can achieve seamless interoperability while maintaining security and compliance.
MirthConnect and FHIR
MirthConnect is a popular integration engine in the healthcare industry. It enables data exchange between different healthcare systems and apps. MirthConnect can be used to distribute FHIR resources because it fully supports the FHIR specification.
MirthConnect can handle FHIR thanks to its built-in FHIR Connector. Sharing FHIR resources with other healthcare systems is made simple by the FHIR Connector.
- Users can create and send FHIR resources to other systems with the MirthConnect FHIR Connector.
- The graphical user interface of MirthConnect can be used to manually create FHIR resources or import them from other systems.
- Once developed, FHIR resources can be mapped to various formats and altered as needed.
- FHIR RESTful APIs, which are supported by MirthConnect’s FHIR Connector, facilitate the retrieval of medical data through contemporary online technologies.
FHIR subscriptions are now supported by MirthConnect’s FHIR Connector. Subscriptions to FHIR make it possible to receive real-time alerts when medical data changes.
Applications such as clinical decision support and patient monitoring benefit greatly from this. MirthConnect’s FHIR Subscriptions feature allows users to subscribe to particular FHIR resources and get alerts when those resources are updated.
Related: Mirth Connect for Healthcare Integration: A Complete 2025 Guide
How Mirth Connect Bridges HL7 and FHIR Standards
Mirth Connect is purpose-built for healthcare messaging. It provides an FHIR Connector and a REST API for real-time FHIR resource exchange. Mirth, for example, can send a standard FHIR Bundle over HTTP/S after receiving an HL7 v2 message from an EHR and mapping its fields to FHIR resources. This functions as a FHIR façade or “bridge” in front of legacy systems: Mirth uses FHIR APIs to expose and modify data rather than rewriting the EHR. Notably, NextGen Healthcare uses Mirth to create patient-facing FHIR APIs on top of traditional EHRs.
When Mirth receives a request for patient allergies or lab results, it records the FHIR REST call, queries the EHR, converts the response to FHIR JSON, and returns it to the mobile app. Mirth Connect can connect on-premise systems to modern data repositories via the cloud. This AWS architectural example demonstrates how Mirth’s HL7-to-FHIR converter exports FHIR R4 resources to a cloud FHIR repository after ingesting HL7 data from an EHR.
The standardized FHIR data is then processed by analytical tools and AI services. This highlights how Mirth enables older EHRs to participate in standards-compliant, real-time data pipelines.
Key Technical Features
FHIR Resource Handling
- Mirth’s integrated FHIR Connector allows users to input raw FHIR JSON or use a visual interface to create, send, and receive resources (such as patient and observation data).
- It enables external apps and portals to access and write data through Mirth by enabling FHIR RESTful operations (GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE).
Subscriptions & Eventing
- When data changes, Mirth can subscribe to FHIR resources to trigger downstream processes or real-time alerts.
- This is ideal for hospital notifications and patient monitoring. For example, Mirth’s FHIR Subscription can automatically alert the care team when a new lab result (observation) is available.
HL7-to-FHIR Transformations
- Mirth’s ability to convert HL7 to FHIR is excellent.
- It provides scripting (Python, JavaScript) and pre-built templates for mapping segments to FHIR resource fields.
- For example, an HL7 ORU message containing lab values can be converted into many FHIR Observation resources.
- As a result of this harmonization of varied data, downstream clients see only FHIR-standard material.
Related: HL7 to FHIR Conversion: Complexities in Automating Health Data Conversion
RESTful API Layer
- Besides FHIR, Mirth can expose any integration channel as an HTTP/REST endpoint.
- This lets Mirth act as the API interface for older systems.
- Healthcare teams often configure an HTTP Listener in Mirth that wraps legacy queries in a modern REST call.
- Non-FHIR clients can query patient data via REST, while Mirth handles the HL7 back-end.
SMART on FHIR Support
- Mirth can support SMART on FHIR workflows by serving as the backend FHIR server.
- In practice, an OAuth2-compliant app launch can hit Mirth’s REST endpoints, which fetch and return FHIR data.
- NextGen’s case study shows a “Patient Access API” built on Mirth that complies with SMART standards.
- This enables patient apps on devices to securely retrieve and use health records.
Mirth also supports all traditional formats and protocols. Its extensive connector library means it can integrate with almost any system.
Business Advantages of Using Mirth Connect and FHIR
- The use of pre-built connections and templates reduces development time. The visual debugger helps to spot mapping errors early on, and Mirth channels can be easily copied and changed. Mirth can reduce rollout time by months as compared to manually developing point-to-point interfaces.
- By implementing FHIR-centric pipelines, the company is well-positioned for future endeavors (telehealth, genomics, and IoT). For example, remote monitoring programs can be facilitated by using wearable devices to broadcast patient vitals, which Mirth can subsequently convert into FHIR Observations in the EHR.
- Organizations can employ analytics systems by standardizing their data in FHIR. As seen in the AWS example, Mirth converted raw HL7 in S3 to FHIR in HealthLake, which Athena and QuickSight then queried. This enables more complicated applications, such as generative AI summarizing patient groupings or predictive population health analytics.
- Mirth’s open architecture helps to prevent vendor lock-in. Hospitals have control over the flows and can change downstream services (cloud, database, and EHR provider) without rewriting all of the interfaces.
Best practices for using MirthConnect with FHIR
MirthConnect is an excellent choice for healthcare firms looking to leverage the latest standards for healthcare data exchange, thanks to its support for FHIR. The following are recommended processes for combining MirthConnect and FHIR:
Stay up to date with FHIR releases
FHIR is a dynamic standard, so the upgrades and new versions are constantly released. To ensure that your MirthConnect implementation is utilizing the most recent FHIR features and capabilities, it is vital to stay current with the most recent versions and upgrades.
Plan your FHIR implementation
Before adding FHIR into your MirthConnect system, make sure to carefully analyze your implementation strategy. This includes deciding which FHIR resources you want to utilize, which systems you’ll be sharing data with, and whether you need any additions or modifications.
Use FHIR profiles
FHIR profiles allow you to define specific subsets of FHIR resources that are appropriate for a given use case. FHIR profiles allow you to ensure that the data you share is consistent and organized based on your use case.
Related: How FHIR Resources and Profiles Power Modern Health Interoperability
Test your implementation
It is critical to thoroughly test your FHIR implementation in a development or testing environment before bringing it into production mode. This can ensure that your implementation is running smoothly and assist in discovering any issues or errors that may arise during the process.
Consider employing FHIR servers.
FHIR servers facilitate healthcare data administration and exchange by providing a centralized repository for FHIR resources. MirthConnect supports FHIR servers, which can be configured to serve as data sources or destinations.
Use MirthConnect’s built-in FHIR capabilities
MirthConnect’s integrated FHIR capabilities, the FHIR Connector and FHIR Subscriptions, provide a robust and versatile means of exchanging medical data via FHIR. Using these elements is critical for guaranteeing the success and efficiency of your installation.
Train your staff
Last but not least, equip your personnel with FHIR and MirthConnect training to ensure they are up to date on the latest best practices and standards for healthcare data exchange. This can help ensure that your implementation goes well and that your firm derives full advantage from FHIR and MirthConnect.
Comparison Table
A comparison of integration platforms highlights Mirth’s strengths. Unlike many commercial engines, Mirth scales without per-interface fees and supports FHIR “out of the box”. Its extensibility gives IT teams the flexibility to meet any use case.
|
Capability/Aspect |
Mirth Connect |
Rhapsody Corepoint |
Infor Cloverleaf |
|
Standards Support |
HL7 v2/v3, CDA, DICOM, X12, IHE; Full FHIR support via built-in connector |
HL7 v2/v3, CDA, DICOM, X12; Native FHIR adapters and JSON APIs |
HL7 v2/v3, CDA, DICOM, X12; FHIR support with adapter libraries |
|
FHIR Capability |
Ingests/converts HL7 to FHIR; exposes FHIR REST APIs; supports SMART on FHIR apps |
Can serve FHIR APIs (may need customization); offers FHIR templates |
Offers FHIR adapters and mapping; web-services support |
|
REST/SMART Support |
Yes – HTTP Listeners, OAuth2; SMART-on-FHIR patterns with launch endpoints |
Yes – REST listeners; OAuth (via add-ons) |
Yes – SOAP/REST listeners; OAuth optional |
|
Licensing & Cost |
Free core (community); Premium supported edition; No per-channel fees |
Commercial license (node-based); recurring fees |
Commercial license; typically per CPU/instance |
|
Deployment Options |
On-prem or cloud (AWS, Azure, containers); Managed service (NextGen Mirth Cloud) |
On-prem & cloud (Corepoint in Locker Mode); multi-tenant |
On-prem & AWS; built-in HA and failover |
|
Security & Compliance |
HIPAA-compliant with TLS, encryption, audit logging, and RBAC; managed solutions offer “built-in HIPAA compliance.” |
Enterprise security features, audit logs, and FHIR compliance modules |
Enterprise security, audit logs, and strong HA features |
|
Data Transformation |
JavaScript, Velocity, and other transformers; FHIR Mapping Language support |
Drag/drop mapping; pre-built actions; complex rule support |
Graphical mapping; enterprise-grade transformation engine |
|
Monitoring & Support |
Real-time dashboards; open-source community; 24/7 support (premium) |
Built-in monitoring, commercial support, and a KLAS high ranking |
Advanced monitoring; vendor support SLAs |
|
Scalability |
Horizontally scalable (add instances); proven in large HIEs and multi-site networks |
Highly scalable; used by large health systems globally |
Cloud-native scaling; Elastic Interfaces; high throughput |
|
Typical Use Cases |
EHR-to-EHR/HIE exchange; HL7–>FHIR bridges; patient apps (Portal/APIs); telehealth integration |
Multi-site EHR consolidation; large-scale HIE; government projects |
HIEs; insurance/EHR integration; lab networks; federal exchange |
Real-World Use Cases of Mirth Connect and FHIR Integration
Mirth Connect’s flexibility has enabled many real-world FHIR integrations:
HL7-to-FHIR Data Migration
A regional health system used Mirth to transform a backlog of old HL7 lab and radiology messages into FHIR Observations, which were then stored in a new FHIR repository. This allowed modern EHR modules and analytics apps to consume historical data via FHIR APIs.
Patient Access and Portals
Hospitals use Mirth to satisfy the “right of the patient” access. Patient portals (or apps like Apple Health) collect vital signs, demographics, and allergies via FHIR calls to Mirth, which retrieves information from the primary EHR. This connects modern app frameworks to obsolete systems.
EHR Interoperability
A multi-hospital network replaced older point-to-point interfaces with Mirth channels. For example, ADT (admissions) messages from one facility’s EHR were converted by Mirth into FHIR Bundles and routed to a central hospital’s system. This streamlined patient lookup across campuses.
Health Information Exchange
Incoming EHR messages (discharge summaries, CCDs) were routed through Mirth, turned into FHIR resources, and then sent to a community FHIR server in one HIE experiment. Outside clinics could utilize a standardized FHIR API to query patient histories.
Quality and Reporting
Mirth can extract clinical data using HL7 or SQL queries and deliver it to registries in the appropriate format. For example, it can send standardized immunization data to public health organizations or transform a batch of patient records into FHIR bundles for a CMS quality measurement API.
Telehealth and Remote Monitoring
Mirth can handle biometric data from connected devices like wearables and home monitoring. Telehealth systems may readily connect to in-hospital data thanks to the engine’s translation of multiple inputs into FHIR (such as streaming glucose levels into FHIR Observation profiles).
These examples demonstrate that Mirth Connect is not only technically competent but also a business enabler, allowing for smoother provider networks, more comprehensive patient data, and faster onboarding of new clinics.
As one success story noted, Mirth helped reduce lab result delays by 30%, directly improving patient care speed. By contrast, without Mirth, the organization would have had to invest in costly custom development or multiple interface engines.
Mirth Connect & FHIR Integration Service by CapMinds
Achieving modern interoperability requires disciplined architecture, healthcare-grade engineering, and continual operational support. CapMinds’ Mirth Connect & FHIR Integration Service is designed to help healthcare enterprises install, optimize, and scale standards-based data interchange without interfering with their existing EHR investments.
As an extension of your health IT team, we ensure performance, security, and long-term maintainability while coordinating Mirth Connect and FHIR with legal obligations such as HIPAA and the 21st Century Cures Act. Our service capabilities include:
- Mirth Connect implementation, configuration, and production hardening
- HL7 v2/v3 to FHIR R4 data mapping and transformation services
- FHIR API enablement, SMART on FHIR workflows, and OAuth2 security
- Real-time FHIR Subscriptions and event-driven integration design
- Cloud and hybrid deployment (AWS, Azure, on-prem) with monitoring
- Integration testing, validation, and compliance documentation
- Ongoing support, optimization, and managed interoperability services
CapMinds helps healthcare providers, HIEs, digital health vendors, and payers move from fragmented interfaces to unified, FHIR-first interoperability layers. Beyond integration, we support analytics, AI readiness, telehealth, population health, and enterprise interoperability initiatives, and more, through a single, accountable service partner.
If your organization needs reliable, future-ready interoperability, CapMinds delivers the integration service expertise to make it operational at scale.
FAQs
1. What is Mirth Connect, and how does it support FHIR?
Mirth Connect is a healthcare integration engine that enables the exchange of clinical and administrative messages across systems. It supports major healthcare standards such as HL7 v2/v3, CDA/CCD, DICOM, X12, JSON, XML, and FHIR, making it a central hub for interoperability. Its built-in FHIR Connector lets users create, send, and transform FHIR resources and leverage RESTful APIs essential for modern data exchange.
2. What is FHIR, and why is it important in healthcare interoperability?
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is an HL7 standard designed for modern, API-based data exchange. It uses RESTful protocols and standardized resources (e.g., Patient, Observation) to simplify integration and enable real-time access to healthcare data across systems.
3. Can Mirth Connect act as a FHIR server or client?
Yes, Mirth Connect can expose FHIR endpoints (acting as a FHIR server) that respond to create/read/update/delete operations via RESTful APIs. It can also interact with external FHIR servers as a client when configured appropriately.
4. What are common use cases for Mirth Connect with FHIR?
Typical scenarios include:
- HL7-to-FHIR transformation for mobile apps and portals
- Patient Access APIs (SMART on FHIR) for patient-facing applications
- Integrating third-party vendors (analytics, telehealth platforms) with EHR data
- Exchanging standardized clinical data across hospital networks
- Real-time notifications using FHIR Subscriptions (e.g., alerts on new observations)
5. How long does it take to implement Mirth FHIR integration?
Implementation time varies based on complexity, system landscape, and integration scope. For straightforward FHIR projects, integration cycles can range from a few weeks to several months, depending on transformation rules, stakeholder alignment, and compliance requirements.
6. What formats and protocols does Mirth Connect support besides FHIR?
In addition to FHIR, Mirth handles: HL7 v2.x, HL7 v3 (including CDA/CCD), DICOM for imaging, X12 for claims, JSON, XML, REST, and SOAP. This breadth ensures comprehensive interoperability across clinical, administrative, and ancillary systems.
7. What are the technical prerequisites for using Mirth Connect with FHIR?
Typical prerequisites include:
- Up-to-date Mirth Connect installation
- FHIR Connector and REST channel setup
- Access to EHR data sources
- Security configuration (TLS, authentication)
- Defined transformation/mapping logic for target FHIR resources
8. Can Mirth Connect integrate with cloud FHIR repositories?
Yes, Mirth can integrate with cloud-based FHIR repositories like AWS HealthLake by pushing transformed FHIR resources into scalable storage and APIs, enabling analytics, population health, and AI workloads.
