In just a few years, innovative technology solutions have helped change the landscape of the healthcare industry. From digital appointment scheduling to electronic medical records, legislation has encouraged new standards like these to be implemented and adopted quickly by providers. Technology has helped improve access to and quality of care and changed the way patients, providers, and industry partners interact.
As health tech solutions continue to adapt and improve, new ways for software systems to “talk” to one another are being constantly developed. Improving how healthcare technology solutions interact with one another both improves data security and simplifies technology adoption. At Vital Interaction, ensuring data integration is simple, effective and safe is a top priority. Together, we must ensure that healthcare data can be processed, accessed, and downloaded quickly and effectively across systems.
One of the tools we use to accomplish this is Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs. APIs help software systems identify specific pieces of data in a text format that is easy to share and read, supporting integration into other programs, applications, and systems. There is currently a standard for how medical data should be structured and transmitted, called Health Level 7, or HL7. A newer data structure format called FHIR is now becoming more common. FHIR APIs have brought revolutionary change to web-based health data with more data standardization from system to system.
How does this affect healthcare providers? If you are selecting a new Practice Management System, understanding how healthcare data management tools are evolving is important. For providers using older software systems, a time when migration into the new data format is needed is quickly approaching. Without an update, interoperability could cause redundant, missing, or late patient communications. Before technology hiccups impact patients, it’s best to plan ahead.
Before implementing new data tools, understanding how they integrate with your current systems and with what’s now becoming the norm in data management is essential. At Vital Interaction, we’ve already adopted new FHIR standards, allowing data to translate easily and safely between new tools and systems.
For help learning how FHIR is impacting the future of healthtech and what you can expect, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.