In a series of EHR Certification and Meaningful Use programs since 2010, US national policy has driven toward better consumer access to clinical data – first through online portals; then through downloadable documents; and most recently through APIs that enable third-party application access. This technology is enabling consumers to connect apps like Apple Health or MyFHR to their health records, helping individuals understand their health and shop for better care. API access is expanding, but key struggles include:
- App registration does not scale. Today, connecting an app requires not only permission from a patient, but also (as a pre-requisite), two additional hurdles that limit the ability for apps to scale: registration with an EHR vendor and approval by a healthcare provider organization. These two steps mean that apps must seek approvals from institutions that may not share common values or business incentives. The first hurdle should be