School of Scientific Computing & Informatics · Health & lab informatics
Health Informatics: EHRs, HL7 FHIR & Clinical Data Standards
Healthcare runs on data that must move safely between hospitals, laboratories, insurers and patients. This course teaches the standards and systems that make that possible, from electronic health records to FHIR APIs.
Course overview
Health Informatics covers how clinical data are recorded, coded and exchanged: EHR systems, clinical terminologies (SNOMED CT, LOINC and ICD-10/11) and the HL7 FHIR standard for interoperable health data.
You query and build FHIR resources against public test servers, map laboratory results to standard codes, and examine India’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) health-data architecture, together with consent and data-protection requirements.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- Describe EHR systems and clinical data workflows
- Code clinical data with SNOMED CT, LOINC and ICD
- Read, create and query HL7 FHIR resources through REST APIs
- Map laboratory data to interoperable formats
- Apply consent, privacy and data-protection principles to health data
Skills you will practise
Eligibility and prerequisites
Who can apply
- Students and graduates in any science, engineering, pharmacy, medicine, agriculture, geography or computing programme (B.Sc., B.Tech., B.E., BCA, M.Sc., M.Tech., MCA, PhD)
- Researchers, faculty and working professionals in research, healthcare, biotech, pharma or IT who want to apply computing to science
- Final-year students may apply before their results are declared
Prerequisites
- None; basic familiarity with JSON helps
Best suited to
- Students of life sciences, pharmacy, nursing, medicine and computing interested in digital health
- Laboratory and hospital IT staff
- Developers entering healthtech
Module-wise syllabus
6 modules. Each pairs instructor-led sessions with a hands-on lab on public data.
Topics
- Clinical workflows
- EHR and LIS systems
- Data quality in healthcare
Topics
- SNOMED CT
- LOINC for laboratory tests
- ICD-10 and ICD-11
Topics
- Resources and profiles
- REST interactions and search
- Bundles
Topics
- Mapping legacy data to FHIR
- Implementation guides
- India’s ABDM architecture
Topics
- Consent management
- De-identification
- The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
Topics
- Design
- Mapping
- Validation
Practical sessions and projects
Capstone project
Build an interoperable data flow
Map clinical or laboratory data to FHIR with standard terminologies and design the consent and privacy controls around it.
Assessed on the correctness of the analysis, the quality of the code and the reasoning in the write-up. A pass is required for the certificate.
- Health data and EHRs
Trace a laboratory test from order to result through hospital systems.
- Clinical terminologies
Code a set of laboratory results and diagnoses with standard terminologies.
- HL7 FHIR
Query a public FHIR test server and create Patient and Observation resources.
- Interoperability in practice
Convert a laboratory export into FHIR Observations and validate them.
- Privacy, consent and security
Design a consent and de-identification approach for a research data extract.
- Project: an interoperable data flow
Design and implement a small, standards-based flow of clinical data with privacy controls.
Software, tools and datasets
Software and tools
All software is free and open source or free for academic use. Recommended computer: 8 GB RAM, 30 GB free disk, Linux, macOS or Windows with WSL2.
Datasets
- Synthea synthetic patient records: EHR and FHIR exercises.synthetichealth.github.io (synthetic, no real patients)
Core reading
- HL7 FHIR specification, release 4 (hl7.org/fhir).
- Benson T, Grieve G. Principles of Health Interoperability: FHIR, HL7 and SNOMED CT, 4th edition. Springer, 2021.
Duration, format and fees
- Next cohort
- Dates are sent with your admission offer
- Timetable
- Three evening or weekend sessions a week (IST), plus a lab clinic; intensive and weekend-only schedules on request
- Payment
- Secure online payment link with your admission offer (UPI, cards, net banking). Instalments on request for fees above ₹15,000.
- Refunds
- See the refund and cancellation policy.
Instructor
The instructor for each cohort is named in your admission offer and on this page when the cohort is announced. Vedicgen instructors are selected for hands-on research or industry experience in the subject they teach, and every course is reviewed by a second subject expert.
Questions about who teaches a cohort? [email protected]
Certificate
Learners who complete the course and pass its capstone receive a Vedicgen certificate of completion for Health Informatics: EHRs, HL7 FHIR & Clinical Data Standards, issued by Vivofold, stating the guided hours and skills assessed. Each certificate has a unique ID and QR code that anyone can check.
Apply for Health Informatics: EHRs, HL7 FHIR & Clinical Data Standards
Apply
Send the form below. It takes about five minutes.
Review
An adviser confirms your fit and format within two working days.
Offer
You receive dates, timetable and a secure payment link.
Onboard
Set-up guide, pre-reading and joining links.
Frequently asked questions
In the live cohort, modules are taught in instructor-led sessions with a weekly lab clinic where you work on real public data with help at hand; every session is recorded. The self-paced format uses the same lessons, labs and datasets with mentor review of your capstone. Both formats end with an assessed project reviewed for the code and the science.
A laptop with at least 8 GB of RAM and about 30 GB of free disk space, running Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL2. Installation instructions are sent before the first session, and lab clinics help with any set-up problems.
Yes. Learners who complete the course and pass its assessment receive a Vedicgen certificate of completion, issued by Vivofold. Every certificate carries a unique ID and a QR code that anyone, including an employer or admissions office, can check on the certificate verification page.
Apply with the form on this page. Live and in-person cohorts run through the year; the dates, timetable and joining details of the next cohort are sent with your admission offer and listed on this page once announced. Self-paced enrolment opens as soon as your application is accepted.
Yes. No course runs longer than four weeks, and the length is customisable: choose the standard schedule, an intensive one- to two-week schedule, weekends only, or a custom timetable. Pick your preference on the application form; colleges and teams can book their own dates.
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