Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the core feature of interoperability infrastructure for health data exchange. Application programming interface (API) in healthcare EHR systems are the key to reinvent health data exchange interoperability.
API adoption is utilized in other business sectors, such as mortgages and travel. APIs allow travel sites to compare flights from multiple airlines without the user visiting each website. API sends information back and forth between a user and a website or app.
Ben Moscovitch, project director of Health Information Technology at Pew Charitable Trusts, talked about the interoperability benefits of APIs in healthcare, “Increased use of APIs, particularly those based on common adopted and consistently deployed standards has the potential to make health care more efficient, lead to better care coordination, and give providers and patients additional tools to access information and ensure high-quality, efficient, safe, and value-based care,” said Moscovitch.
The CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule requires payers and providers to open the healthcare blocks that prevent patient data exchange across the care continuum. To comply with the rule, providers are implementing APIs.
Interoperability tools is set to provide patients with data regarding care encounters and claims. “If standard APIs were broadly adopted in healthcare, patients could access and compile their data from multiple providers while clinicians could process complicated information and make care recommendations,” the report states. “APIs would also offer other benefits, such as facilitating the exchange of clinical data among health care providers.”