Access Live FHIR Data in Google Sheets through Connect Spreadsheets

Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet program provided by Google. When integrated with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, you can effortlessly gain access to FHIR data directly within Google Sheets for tasks such as data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article offers a comprehensive guide on connecting to FHIR within Connect Spreadsheets and accessing live FHIR data seamlessly within Google Sheets.

Connect Spreadsheets is the easiest way to get all your live data into Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets - no more downloading, wrangling, and uploading files again. Just connect to your data, select the dataset you'd like to see, and import it into your spreadsheet.

Configure FHIR Connectivity for Google Sheets

Connectivity to FHIR from Google Sheets is made possible through Connect Spreadsheets. To work with FHIR data from Google Sheets, we start by creating and configuring a FHIR connection.

1. Log into Connect Spreadsheets, click Sources and click Add Connection 👁 Adding a Connection
   
2. Select "FHIR" from the Add Connection panel 👁 Selecting a data source
   
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to FHIR.

   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.

   👁 Configuring a connection (OData is shown)
   
4. Click Create & Test

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to FHIR data from Google Sheets.

Access Live FHIR Data from Google Sheets

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Google Sheets to access live FHIR data.

1. Log into Google Sheets, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Add-ons and click Get Add-ons (if you have already installed the Add-on, jump to step 5).
3. Search for Connect Spreadsheets Add-On and install the Add-on. 👁 Install the Add-On
   
4. Authorize the Add-On. 👁 Authorize the Add-On
   
5. Back in Google Sheets, click Add-ons and open the Connect Spreadsheets Add-On. 👁 Opening the Add-On
   
6. In the Add-On panel, click "Log in" to sign into and authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account 👁 Authenticating with Connect Spreadsheets
   
7. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Google Sheets, click Import 👁 Connect Spreadsheets panel in Google Sheets
   
8. Choose a Connection (e.g. FHIR1), Table (e.g. Patient, and Columns to import 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Filters, Sorting, Limits
   
10. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one. 👁 Opting where to import the data
    

Live Access to FHIR Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live FHIR data from your Google Sheets workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try Connect Spreadsheets and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.