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Every EHR integration follows the same project stages. The preparation is just as important as the implementation!  

Preparation:

 1) Sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with the EHR

A BAA is a legal document required by HIPAA when an entity will be handling Protected Health Information (PHI). This is often the first step to complete before discussing integration requirements or obtaining any access to PHI.

 2) Gather requirements and obtain the EHR Implementation Guide

Every EHR vendor has Integration Implementation Guides which contain descriptions of:

  • Data transport requirements (eg. LLP, FTP, HTTP, etc.)

  • Authentication or security requirements (eg. VPN, TLS, OAuth2.0, etc.)

  • Data format and schemas (HL7v2, CDA, FHIR, JSON, XML, X12, etc.)

  • Sample data which can be used during interface development.

How do I get the EHR implementation guide?

The best way to get the EHR implementation guide is to have the provider using the EHR share it or leverage their EHR vendor contact to obtain the guide. You’ll need to provide an overview of the integration objective and type of data to be exchanged in order for the EHR to provide the appropriate implementation guide.

 3) Setup your IguanaX Environment

Ensure all necessary Development, Test, and Production IguanaX instances are installed with the appropriate server specifications. See Installation Procedures.

At this stage, you should also be working with the EHR team to obtain access to a sandbox or test system environments as well as determine a contact with access to the test EHR environment to participate during testing.  

Implementation:

 1) Design - Determine interface architecture and data mappings

After gathering the integration requirements and reviewing the system implementation guides, the interface architecture design, test plan, and data mapping documents should be prepared to expedite the build and test phase.

The data mapping document is used to conduct a gap analysis ensuring all the required data is available and can be validated prior to the interface build. You can use implementation guide to build and validate the mapping document.

 2) Build and Test - Implement interface and perform quality assurance

Interfaces are built and tested according to the design plan with the sample data from the EHR vendors.

  • The build phase includes unit and functional testing, focusing on ensuring the mappings and translations match the specifications provided and the interface is operating as expected.

  • The testing phase leverages the external system’s test environments to perform integrated, performance load testing, and soft-go-live testing for the interface. 

 3) Activation - Interface promotion to production (go-live)

Once testing is complete, interfaces can be promoted to the Production environment, turned on and monitored. 

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