HL7 Vulcan

HL7 Vulcan is an official HL7 FHIR Accelerator program that operates as a global community focused on advancing healthcare interoperability across the research-to-care continuum. The organization brings together over 250 participants from more than 50 member organizations spanning academia, biopharma, CROs, government agencies, consortia, standards development organizations, and implementers.

The accelerator develops HL7 FHIR Implementation Guides (IGs) that bridge clinical care and research, enabling standardized data exchange between healthcare systems. With seven active projects and more than five IGs in adoption, Vulcan facilitates collaboration through connectathons, community projects, and open forums. The organization works directly with regulatory bodies like the FDA and NIH, major pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Eli Lilly, leading health systems such as Johns Hopkins and Memorial Sloan Kettering, and standards organizations like CDISC.

As part of the HL7 FHIR Accelerator Program, Vulcan operates under a structured governance model that includes a Steering Committee elected by members, an Operations Committee where all member organizations have voting representation, an Advisory Council of domain experts, and a dedicated Project Management Office supporting day-to-day operations.

Organizations should engage with HL7 Vulcan when they need to influence or adopt emerging FHIR standards for research and clinical data exchange. The accelerator provides direct access to the standards development process and collaboration with industry leaders facing similar interoperability challenges. Member organizations gain voting rights on standards direction and can propose new use cases for FHIR Implementation Guide development.

The community structure enables knowledge sharing across the full research-to-care spectrum, from pharmaceutical R&D through clinical implementation. Organizations benefit from tested, production-ready Implementation Guides developed through collaborative projects with peer institutions and validated through community connectathons.

HL7 Vulcan operates exclusively within healthcare, specifically focusing on the research-to-care continuum that spans clinical trials, translational research, and patient care delivery. The organization addresses critical interoperability challenges unique to healthcare research, including clinical trial enrollment, adverse event reporting, research data exchange with EHR systems, and regulatory submission requirements.

Member organizations include major pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Roche, Johnson & Johnson), leading academic medical centers (Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Duke), government health agencies (FDA, NIH institutes), and healthcare-specific standards organizations (CDISC, HL7 International). This concentration ensures all Implementation Guides and standards work addresses real-world healthcare research and clinical care scenarios.

The ideal member organization operates at the intersection of clinical care and research, has active FHIR implementation needs or challenges, and can commit staff to participate in collaborative project teams. This includes academic medical centers running clinical trials, pharmaceutical companies with digital health initiatives, health IT vendors building research-focused solutions, and government agencies establishing regulatory standards for research data interoperability.