Watch this Ask the Expert session to discover how public health organizations can use SAS with open source in unique ways to save time and streamline software costs.
Watch the Webinar
You will learn:
New ways to use R and Python with SAS.
Options for ingesting public health FHIR data into SAS Viya using open source.
About SAS solutions for outbreak management and environmental health monitoring.
The questions from the Q&A segment held at the end of the webinar are listed below and the slides from the webinar are attached.
Q&A
What if FHIR doesn't include a data point I need?
We see this often because FHIR is an international standard, so there are regional differences and variations between countries in how their health systems collect and standardize information. Within each resource, there is something called an extension. The extension is essentially a way for organizations to define and capture specific information relevant to their needs. For example, if I am in Washington, the Washington Department of Health may find it useful to collect certain data. They can create their own extension, specifying that this piece of data is important for their records. This approach allows us to standardize how these extensions are captured. When you look at a FHIR resource, you can navigate to its extensions and see a list of them, each with a unique name—usually a URL, such as washingtondepartmentofhealth.y.gov/someExtensionName. This ensures uniqueness and associates a standard with each extension.
Within the FHIR specification, if you look for "US Core Race" and "US Core Ethnicity," these are examples of extensions used specifically in the United States because the demographic data captured there differs from other countries. US agencies, healthcare providers, and the broader healthcare community collaborated to define these extensions for the US. Similar initiatives exist in other countries. For instance, public health organizations may come together to define how they will capture disease data, workflow information, or case details. The CDC, for example, could have an extension that specifies how cases need to be reported. This is how different regions use extensions within FHIR to meet their specific data and workflow requirements.
Where can I find out more about FHIR?
The [HL7 organization](https://www.hl7.org/fhir/) is a good resource. The site has a ton of information, offering everything from a high-level overview to really detailed content. A good place to start with FHIR is by looking at the resource list. I’ll zoom in and make it a bit larger so it’s more legible. Let’s go back and choose Immunization. You can look at the resource and see what’s included. For example, the Immunization resource includes an identifier, status, vaccine code—which is the administered vaccine value set. You can then check the value set and see the standard values for that vaccine, if that makes sense. There’s a patient reference, an encounter (medical encounter), and so on. You can go through and review the data.
One thing I find really useful is the comprehensive examples available. When you visit a FHIR resource—such as Patient, Observation, Immunization, etc.—you can access examples in several formats. JSON is the primary format used. If you click on JSON, you’ll see an example of what it looks like. For instance, you might see a flu vaccination example. The same applies when viewing patient data. When I was creating those slides, I sourced the information from here. It’s a great step, as the site provides detailed information, including APIs, if you’re interested.
Another thing to mention is the strong community around FHIR. https://chat.fhir.org is an open, chatroom-style forum where people from around the world participate. There are folks from Epic, Oracle, Cerner, public health agencies, and working groups for vital records and statistics. Many people from various public health agencies in the US collaborate and share information there. I’ve had occasions where I wasn’t sure how a part of the specification worked, and I asked questions in the forum. I found the community to be very helpful and generally willing to offer their time and assistance. That’s another way to get help.
If you have a SAS Viya license, how much more expensive is it to add the SAS Workbench for Developers?
The cost depends on your current licences. I would recommend reaching out to your account executive, as they will be able to provide specific pricing for your situation. Typically, the pricing aligns with regular Viya licences. Think of these options as different flavours of our platform. If you already have Viya, you can simply adjust your licences to include Workbench, and the costs are generally consistent. It’s just a different platform for different kinds of users. We don’t differentiate much on pricing, so your account executive is the best person to contact with these types of questions.
Recommended Resources
SAS Visual Analytics Learning Subscription
SAS Visual Analytics 1 for SAS® Viya: Basics
SAS® Visual Analytics 2 for SAS® Viya®: Advanced
Developing Custom Steps with SAS® Studio Analyst
Public Health Transformation: Ways to use SAS Viya
The future of public health: Building more resilient infrastructure for better health outcomes
Please see additional resources in the attached slide deck.
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