The Cures Act Final Rule includes regulatory requirements to implement secure, standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs). To support the acceleration of API adoption in health care, ONC has published a series of perspective reports that focus on key stakeholders and their views on APIs.
Accelerating APIs for Scientific Discovery: Provider Perspectives Brief [PDF – austria number data 740 KB] is now available. This fourth and final report explored provider perspectives on API-based data sharing in a rapidly evolving electronic health data ecosystem. Provider organizations are often the primary stewards of a patient’s medical history, and data captured in electronic health records (EHRs) influence a provider’s workflow and clinical decisions. As a result, it is imperative that we understand providers’ perspectives as we build towards an interoperable health care system.
The proliferation of health apps has enhanced the ability of patients, providers, and researchers to access EHR data to improve patient care and overall health and wellness. Health IT developers are adopting APIs and other technologies that enable secure data exchange between disparate systems and health apps. Standards-based APIs provide patients the ability to access their electronic health information (EHI) and share it with apps of their choice.
In this report, ONC sought to understand providers’ perspectives on how APIs can support the access, exchange, and use of EHI by conducting interviews with a diverse group of provider organizations in the fall of 2021. Discussion participants included a regional health system; a community hospital; an inpatient rehab, home health, and hospice system; a federally-qualified health center; and five academic medical centers.
These discussions focused on providers’ experiences working with different health IT developers, implementing standards-based APIs for different use cases, resource requirements, timelines, and how this all aligns with their organization’s strategic objectives. We gained a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities each organization faces in implementing APIs and apps. Understanding how these provider organizations view and use health IT solutions and products will help other health IT stakeholders (e.g., health IT developers, app developers, government) advance the interoperability of EHRs and health IT products in a coordinated effort.
The Provider Perspective