Never before has healthcare been under such a magnifying glass. And rightly so. The pandemic has put tremendous pressure on healthcare providers, insurers, and governments to act fast, efficient, and faultless. Lives are at stake. But the way current healthcare systems process data and communicate is well due for an upgrade.
In this most crucial of times, big healthcare reform couldn’t have been planned any better. Because healthcare technology is about to enter a new dawn. One that removes complexity and improves interoperability. Open Healthcare will pave the way forward for decades to come.
What will this landscape of healthcare look like? And what will it take to thrive in this age of cloud-based and API-first technology?
What is Open Healthcare and FHIR
Open Healthcare or OHC is a new global reform that allows healthcare providers, health insurers, and governments to communicate and exchange information more freely in a secure and reliable way.
For the past four decades the HL7 protocol has supported healthcare providers and insurers with their workflows. It has been the worldwide standard for interoperability between EHR’s (Electronic Health Records). That time is now changing.
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the new standard set to be adopted globally. In the United States, healthcare insurers will have to adhere to this protocol by the 1st of July 2021. Healthcare providers and governments will have to follow suit at the start of 2022. Europe is expected to adopt FHIR protocol within the next one or two years.
API-first technology in a changing Healthcare landscape
The most noticeable change of FHIR is that it steers healthcare technology towards an API-first approach. Similar to Open Banking and PSD2, Open Healthcare allows for different users to exchange medical information in a secure environment. The benefits of FHIR is that it increases opportunities for different healthcare providers, medical practitioners, apps, patients, and insurers to communicate and share.
For instance, a patient with cardiovascular problems could choose to send data and metrics taken from their work-out app to their general practitioner, to the hospital and to the insurance provider. The insurer can determine if the patient is eligible for coverage and send approval to the hospital for direct treatment. Meanwhile, the general practitioner is fully aware of their patient’s status and the patient is notified timely of their appointments.
The efficiency of treatment, transparency of process and usability of medical information will greatly increase with an API-first approach. And this is just one example from patient to provider. Multiply this by millions of crucial data exchanges across systems and stakeholders: that’s Open Healthcare.
How to integrate FHIR in your enterprise
Healthcare providers, insurers, and governments will have to update their SAP, EPIC, or NEXUS systems that handle the EHR’s to be compliant with FHIR. To implement FHIR protocol, the majority of healthcare enterprises enter a complicated process of alterations, system overhauls, and integrations.
And this is where WSO2 and Yenlo do the heavy lifting for you.
Because you need a solid platform that can handle trillions of data interactions with proper governance and security. With controlled access depending on whichever stakeholder is interacting with your enterprise.
In a joint effort WSO2 and Yenlo have built a state-of-the-art Open Healthcare solution. This API- and Cloud-first Platform-as-a-Service is ahead of the curve when it comes to FHIR compatibility.
Yenlo’s Connext Platform is a true powerhouse for those who are ready for Open Healthcare. Hosted and managed by Yenlo 24/7, WSO2 Open Source, 100% percent customizable, private, cost-efficient, and short time-to-market.
That means seamless interoperability between API’s, clear consent management, and reliable authentication and authorisation of users.
Whatever operating system your current healthcare technology runs on, the Connext Platform fits seamlessly and will bring a flexible and ironclad data security solution.
It’s time to care for Open Healthcare – now!
With FHIR regulations coming into effect as early as July, there is a beautiful momentum to jump on now. To explore the opportunities and be prepared for its challenges. The adoption rate of Open Healthcare is rising fast, with Big Tech such as Apple and Google opening up avenues and possibilities that defy the status quo. The EHR market is expected to grow to $38 billion by 2025. And every day new innovations in healthcare technology come into play. Though the landscape maybe changing swiftly, the end goal and focus should be on the patient and the betterment of care. If you are ready to see what Open Healthcare could mean for your enterprise, then Yenlo will gratefully lend its ear.
