A list of FHIR data tools to assist in accurate, consistent, secure, and timely implementations of the FHIR healthcare interoperability standard. Because FHIR is freely available and widely utilized a few teams, including Tenasol, have constructed utilities for FHIR data.

[Visualization] Tenasol FHIR Bundle Viewer

The Tenasol bundle viewer is a viewer created for viewing and exploring FHIR resources, generating node-edge FHIR graphs, and converting FHIR formats or structures. Tenasol uniquely created this tool to assist in internal development and chose to make it available to others for the same purposes, or for clients to view FHIR data we generate or process.

[Information] HL7 FHIR Website

The HL7 FHIR website is a dynamically maintained website that contains all HL7 endorsed implementation guides, as well as associated projects. It shows FHIR resources across multiple base implementations on which all other FHIR implementations are based.

[Server Utility] Inferno FHIR Validator

Inferno is open source software developed for validation of FHIR data against an implementation. The healthit.gov linked implementation may be used, or it may be deployed on a private server. Given any implementation package, and the FHIR data, it returns any errors found. It has many implementations already built into it, however any may be added.

Examples of errors that may be encountered by a FHIR validation tool may include:

the addition of invalid fields
the absence missing required fields
incorrect field entries
missing but referenced resources
‘reference islands’ within FHIR bundles
… and many more

[Server Utility] HAPI FHIR

HAPI FHIR is an API interface designed to sit on a server for automated interactions when a user on the internet (or in a network) wants to request FHIR data from a server. It is a fantastic opensource Java-based, deployable software. It is also capable of a few peripheral functions like FHIR data validation for a few implementations.

[Server Utility] Touchstone FHIR Test Utility

Touchstone is a freemium software privately built for testing a FHIR server for hardiness. It is privately developed but offers a wide range of tests and is still being heavily developed today.

[Server Utility] SMART-on-FHIR

SMART-on-FHIR is a security layer added on top of a FHIR server to enable Oauth2 (among other) verification when attempting to interact with a FHIR server. It is most commonly used when implementing server interactions with electronic medical records.

[Forum] Simplifier.net Standards Repository

Simplifier.net is a website for hosting, sharing, and collaborating on FHIR implementation guides (“IG’s“) across the world. If you want to pull a FHIR implementation’s definitions, this is the place to do it. It also offers features for looking up where a FHIR data element should be placed within different implementations of FHIR.

[Forum] Da Vinci Confluence, USCDI

Da Vinci Confluence and the USCDI are both sites where new implementations of FHIR are created, managed, and heavily scrutinized. USCDI is the most common federal implementation. Simplifier.net offers guidance on ongoing projects, and where to place data that a user of FHIR not might necessarily know were to place depending on the implementation they are using.

[Design] Forge FHIR IG Construction UI

Forge is a user interface available on Simplifier.net that is publicly available for creating new implementation guides (IG’s) for FHIR. Stated another way, US-core (the federal FHIR implementation) is a modification of the out-of-the-box FHIR implementation. It allows a user to create, modify, or remove constraints on existing implementations, or create an entirely new one from scratch.

[Storage] FHIRbase

As we mentioned in our FHIR blog, FHIR specifies how data is transferred but not stored. One solution is to use FHIRbase, which stores FHIR data in a flat database format, specifically PostgreSQL. There are pros and cons to this, however is it is well implemented and a great resource if this is how you plan on implementing a FHIR database server.

[Data] Synthea Fake FHIR dataset

The synthea dataset created by the Mitre corporation is a massive dataset of synthetic (artifical) FHIR data which is great for testing FHIR servers, data science operations, database operations, FHIR visualizations, and numerous other use cases.

Conclusion

In today’s healthcare ecosystem, working with HL7 FHIR data requires more than just familiarity—it demands the right tools for the job. Whether you're validating resources, designing new implementation guides, exploring FHIR bundles, or securing server interactions, the ecosystem of FHIR tools is mature and versatile. Tools like the Tenasol FHIR Bundle Viewer simplify internal and client-facing FHIR navigation. Validation platforms like Inferno and HAPI ensure your data complies with evolving standards.

Together, these tools support developers, analysts, and clinicians in ensuring that health data remains accurate, secure, and interoperable. As healthcare continues to digitize, understanding and applying these tools will be critical to any successful FHIR implementation. Whether you're building, validating, or sharing FHIR data, these tools form the backbone of modern health data interoperability.

HL7 FHIR Tools To Know About