Use the CData ODBC Driver for FHIR in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics

SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. When you pair SAS with the CData ODBC Driver for FHIR, you gain database-like access to live FHIR data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This article explains how to create a library for FHIR in SAS and create a simple report based on real-time FHIR data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live FHIR data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to FHIR, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to FHIR and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can easily visualize and analyze FHIR data in SAS.

Connect to FHIR as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to FHIR follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for FHIR must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).

Set URL to the Service Base URL of the FHIR server. This is the address where the resources are defined in the FHIR server you would like to connect to. Set ConnectionType to a supported connection type. Set ContentType to the format of your documents. Set AuthScheme based on the authentication requirements for your FHIR server.

Generic, Azure-based, AWS-based, and Google-based FHIR server implementations are supported.

Sample Service Base URLs

• Generic: http://my_fhir_server/r4b/
• Azure: https://MY_AZURE_FHIR.azurehealthcareapis.com/
• AWS: https://healthlake.REGION.amazonaws.com/datastore/DATASTORE_ID/r4/
• Google: https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/fhirStores/FHIR_STORE_ID/fhir/

Generic FHIR Instances

The product supports connections to custom instances of FHIR. Authentication to custom FHIR servers is handled via OAuth (read more about OAuth in the Help documentation. Before you can connect to custom FHIR instances, you must set ConnectionType to Generic.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for FHIR in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData FHIR Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for FHIR
Description = My Description
URL = http://test.fhir.org/r4b/
ConnectionType = Generic
ContentType = JSON
AuthScheme = None

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Create a FHIR Library in SAS

Connect to FHIR in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for FHIR.

1. Open SAS and expand Libraries in the Explorer pane.
2. In the Active Libraries window, right-click and select New.
3. Name your library (odbclib), select ODBC as the Engine, and click to Enable at startup (if you want the library to persist between sessions).
4. Set Data Source to the DSN you previously configured and click OK. 👁 Creating a library for FHIR in SAS.
   

Create a View from a FHIR Query

SAS natively supports querying data either using a low-code, point-and-click Query tool or programmatically with PROC SQL and a custom SQL query. When you create a View in SAS, the defining query is executed each time the view is queried. This means that you always query live FHIR data for reports, charts, and analytics.

Using the Query Tool

1. In SAS, click Tools -> Query
2. Select the table sources and the table(s) you wish to pull data from. Then, click OK. 👁 Selecting table(s) to visualize.
   
3. Select columns and right-click to add filtering, ordering, grouping, etc. 👁 Selecting columns(s) to visualize and configuring the query.
   
4. Create a local view to contain the query results by right-clicking the SQL Query Tool window, selecting Show Query, and clicking Create View. Name the View and click OK. 👁 Create a local view to work with FHIR data.
   

Using PROC SQL

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC SQL to query the data and create a local view.
   NOTE: This procedure creates a view in the Work library. You can optionally specify a library in the create view statement.

   proc sql;
    create view patient_view as
    select 
    id, 
    [name-use] 
    from 
    odbclib.patient 
    where 
    [address-city] = 'New York';
   quit;
   

3. Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.

Report On or Visualize FHIR Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze FHIR data using the powerful SAS features. Print a simple report using PROC PRINT and create a basic graph based on the data using PROC GCHART.

Print an HTML Report

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC PRINT to print an HTML report for the FHIR Patient data.

   proc print data=patient;
    title "FHIR Patient Data";
   run;
   

   👁 A simple FHIR data report.
   

Print a Chart

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the Patient data.

   proc gchart data=patient;
    pie id / sumvar=[name-use]
    value=arrow
    percent=arrow
    noheading
    percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
    slice=inside value=none
    name='PatientChart';
   run;
   

   👁 A simple FHIR data chart.