

# Searching FHIR resources in AWS HealthLake
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Use FHIR [https://hl7.org/fhir/R4/http.html#search](https://hl7.org/fhir/R4/http.html#search) interaction to search a set of FHIR resources in a HealthLake data store based on some filter criteria. The `search` interaction can be performed using either a `GET` or `POST` request. For searches that involve personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI), it's recommended to use `POST` requests, as PII and PHI is added as part of the request body and is encrypted in transit.

**Note**  
The FHIR `search` interaction described in this chapter is built in conformance to the HL7 FHIR R4 standard for health care data exchange. Because it is a representation of a HL7 FHIR service, it is not offered through AWS CLI and AWS SDKs. For more information, see [https://hl7.org/fhir/R4/http.html#search](https://hl7.org/fhir/R4/http.html#search) in the **FHIR R4 RESTful API documentation**.

HealthLake supports a subset of FHIR R4 search parameters. For more information, see [FHIR R4 search parameters for HealthLake](reference-fhir-search-parameters.md).

**Topics**
+ [Searching with GET](searching-fhir-resources-get.md)
+ [Searching with POST](searching-fhir-resources-post.md)
+ [Search Consistency Levels](searching-fhir-consistency-levels.md)