API in health care – magic in the air

Our modern lives are fueled by APIs – software tools that allow different systems to talk to each other – and they are so anchored in our routines that we rarely think about it. We check our banking sales, our flight times, our music queues and our real -time weather forecasts, all of our phones. Behind the scenes, countless software and servers work together via the Internet to recover the information we need and deliver it instantly. These interactions are generally based on RESTFUL APIs (a common web service design style) and transmit data using JSON, a light format for the structuring of information.

Health care, however – undoubtedly the most vital (word game) of all industries – does not work with the same functionality in real time and transparent. Although there are parts in place – such as APIs that draw results in laboratory and imaging in DSEs, affirmations of pipelines for financial data and personalized APIs which allow cardiac and vital monitoring of signs in wired intensive care environments – we miss a rich integration between our personal health systems which can monitor digitation and respond to data on continuous movement).

Most of us could use a little more support when it comes to managing our health. An example of more advanced and compatible API care is the integration of continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps and, sometimes, for patients with diabetes dependent on insulin. Other chronic conditions such as obesity, hypertension, coronary disease, asthma, MPOC, depression and vascular diseases could all benefit from APIs which allow transparent data sharing between individuals and intelligent servers.

So why was this kind of transparent experience and fueled by API was not broader in the American health system? It is not a question of technical capacity. The problem is that our health care infrastructure is always based on “bricks and mortar” / visits and procedures in person. The entire business model encourages the services provided within the walls of clinics and hospitals, not the type of continuous digital care that APIs make possible.

Although value -based care is often defended as the future, it remains largely theoretical. And the future does not come with the billing codes. René Descartes said, said, said “I think, so I am” – I think I’m therefore. In American Healthcare, it could be more exact to say, “CPTO: I am” – I code, so I am. (Your mileage on the translation may vary.)

More importantly, our digital anchoring point in health care is DSE, a tool specially designed for documentation, not on automation. When we think of the need to monitor “the State” in terms of computer science, it is almost exactly the type of calculation necessary to understand and respond to the state of health of a patient in real time. We can say that everyone in Cloud Computing consists in bringing such a sophisticated calculation directly to APIs – a strategy first of the API.

In the end, to unlock the advantages that APIs have brought to all other industries, we must rethink the incentive structure that governs how care is provided and paid. Currently, many health systems and DSE sellers are working like monolithic fortresses where connectivity with the outside world is feared as a door for “patient flight”. However, APIs should not be considered a threat to providing health care, they must be considered a bridge to provide more intelligent and more reactive care. We have to rethink the APIs. Health care would not be the first industry to have its existence of “brick and mortar” upset by competitors offering a different mixture of digital services.

What could a world first look like for suppliers and payers? Imagine each patient with a model for calculating their health where each treatable parameter (such as weight, blood pressure, heart rate, exercise, inflammation and blood chemistry) serves both a diagnostic marker and the possibility of treatment. Many of these measures and the chronic conditions associated with them could be monitored and managed via smartphones and connected devices.

Although it may seem futuristic, it should be noted that most large online retailers use the same type of approach to interact with their customers. The standard of transmission of clinical data HL7 Fir finally allows us to have a uniform and calculable format to represent medical files, which makes this type of intelligent data exchange possible on a large scale.

There are also short -term opportunities for APIs to improve care, especially in acute circles where costs and challenges are high. This is where money is spent at the moment. Think of a patient with congestive heart failure, dialysis or chemotherapy. These are people whose conditions could be monitored and managed more effectively between visits, avoiding costly visits or hospitalizations.

Payers also have access to most of the same data on patients (or could obtain it via API Pir) and are increasingly encouraged to act on it, especially those operating under commanded risk models. The new HHS and CMS leadership has already declared several times that they would go to more digital care models – and the APIs are at the heart of this. While health care moves to modern technological batteries and a smarter infrastructure, care management is ready to be very different.

Photo: Chombosan, Getty Images

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