Taiwan Holds International FHIR Server Performance Competition to Build National 'Standard Lab'

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Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) organized its first 'International FHIR Server Performance Competition' to advance medical informatization and establish a nationwide collaboration foundation. Previously, hospitals operated with proprietary EHR systems, leading to significant data fragmentation where information was locked within individual institutions. To solve this, the MOHW spent two years preparing, establishing Taiwan’s core dataset and FHIR Implementation Guide (IG), and upgrading the EHR exchange center architecture. The competition aims not just for connectivity but to validate a 'middleware system' capable of exchanging data across different systemic limitations. Crucially, it must achieve millisecond-level performance even during peak load times. The event saw participation from Singapore’s InterSystems, alongside five domestic Taiwanese companies: Grandare, Waiqian Technology, etc. The competition involved loading one million electronic health records into a standardized platform and measuring the time required for various systems—such as clinical decision support or SMART on FHIR applications—to connect to each participant's system. According to Li Jianzhang, MOHW Director of Information, this represents the 'last mile' challenge: optimizing the entire structure from software to hardware. The ultimate goal is establishing a national-level 'standard laboratory,' marking a critical moment in Taiwan’s medical information development.