Medical (health) informatics is the interdisciplinary field that studies how health data, information and knowledge are captured, stored, exchanged and used to improve care, research and public health. Explore its sub-domains, the interoperability standards that hold them together, and where the field is heading today.
Clinical documentation, devices, genomics, imaging and patient-generated data become structured, computable records.
Standards such as HL7 FHIR, DICOM, SNOMED CT and LOINC let systems share meaning, not just files.
Clinical decision support, analytics and AI turn data into actionable recommendations at the point of care.
Privacy, security, consent and governance frameworks (HIPAA, GDPR, EU AI Act) keep the whole system trustworthy.
Filter by level of focus, then click any card for a detailed briefing.
Interoperability is the backbone of the field. These are the specifications you will meet in practice.
| Standard | Layer | What it does | Typical use |
|---|
HL7 FHIR represents clinical concepts as modular "resources" exchanged as JSON over a REST API. Pick a resource to inspect it.
Each clinical data element belongs to a specific coding system. Click an item on the left, then its correct vocabulary on the right.
Where the field is moving right now.
Six questions across the whole field.