The ÚNICAS Project Publishes a New Guide to Facilitate Interoperability Between Spain’s Autonomous Communities

The ÚNICAS project aims to create a collaborative ecosystem between autonomous communities to improve the diagnosis and care of children with rare diseases. Through a nationwide healthcare excellence network and the Interterritorial Council of the Spanish National Health System, this project is funded by the European Union’s Next Generation funds, within the framework of Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The Ministry of Health coordinates the project, while Catalonia leads the development of the technological assets needed for implementation.

TIC Salut Social Foundation leads the project’s interoperability efforts

The TIC Salut Social Foundation is leading the interoperability efforts. In this regard, the interoperability team has developed the “ÚNICAS HL7 FHIR Rare Diseases Implementation Guide”, which is now publicly available via the following link.

Focused on pediatric rare disease care, the guide defines the HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) messaging specifications to enable a fast and efficient implementation of the foundations for information sharing between all hospital information systems involved in the project. This guide represents a major step forward in the standardization and secure, consistent exchange of health data at the national level.

ÚNICAS HL7 FHIR Rare Diseases Implementation Guide

The FHIR Implementation Guide sets out a series of standardized rules and resources that define how FHIR resources should be used. In other words, it enables healthcare systems to communicate efficiently and interoperably across the country.

With the publication of this guide, Spain and the healthcare information systems of its autonomous communities are taking a decisive step toward a more connected and interoperable healthcare system—one capable of delivering more effective, personalized care tailored to the needs of each patient, regardless of their geographic location.

ÚNICAS is a project of the Ministry of Health, included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and funded by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU funds.