Guide 04 — The Healthcare Data Landscape
Where healthcare AI gets its data — systems, formats, standards and meaning.
A map of source systems, data types, exchange standards and terminologies — plus the readiness lens that decides whether data is usable for AI.
A4 sheet — scroll sideways or pinch to zoom
Visual Guide 04 · Foundation / Technical / Data
The Healthcare Data Landscape
Where healthcare AI gets its data — systems, formats, standards and meaning.
Healthcare AI Learning
Band 1
Source systems
- EHR / EPD / HIS
- LIS / laboratory
- RIS / PACS / imaging
- Pharmacy & medication systems
- Monitoring, devices, wearables
- Patient-reported data / PROMs
- Registries, claims, administrative data
- Guidelines, literature, protocols
Band 2
Data types
- Structured coded fields
- Clinical notes / free text
- Documents
- Images
- Waveforms / signals
- Measurements / time series
- Genomics / omics (selected settings)
Band 3
Exchange & interoperability
- FHIR — Healthcare data standard: resource model plus exchange framework
- HL7 v2 — Event/message-based exchange, widely used in existing hospital environments
- DICOM / DICOMweb — Medical imaging information standard and web services
- APIs — Software interfaces exposing data or actions
- SMART on FHIR — App authorisation and launch patterns around FHIR systems
Band 4
Semantics / terminologies
- SNOMED CT — Clinical concepts
- LOINC — Observations, measurements, tests and documents
- UCUM — Units of measure
- ICD — Classification for reporting, statistics and reimbursement contexts — not interchangeable with SNOMED CT
End-to-end
Source
Representation & exchange
Semantics
Quality & context
AI use
AI-readiness lens
Standardised ≠ complete, current, consistent or AI-ready.
Common misconceptions
- “FHIR replaces HL7 v2 everywhere.” No. Many environments run both, often for years.
- “SNOMED CT and LOINC do the same job.” No. They cover different semantic roles.
- “Structured data is automatically high quality.” No. Coding practice, timing and completeness still vary.
- “DICOM is just image pixels.” No. DICOM covers imaging-related information, metadata and services.
- “Standardised means AI-ready.” No. Task fit, permissions and context still decide.
Related learning
Guides summarise the same primary sources cited in the related courses — official EU legal texts, standards bodies and peer-reviewed literature. Educational summaries only, not legal or clinical advice; regulatory dates were checked between 25 August and 10 September 2026.
Updated Sep 2026