What are Application Accelerators?
Oftentimes, Healthcare IT solutions need to be customized and unique while still being interoperable and secure.
But here’s the problem. Solutions customized from the ground up can be costly and time-consuming to develop. And unfortunately healthcare IT budgets are already stretched thin.
So how do healthcare organizations get more from their budget while still accelerating the development of the technology-based solutions consumers want?
In step innovative application accelerators.
Designed to bridge that gap, application accelerators sit somewhere between “off-the-shelf” solutions and highly customized or in-house developed platforms. These accelerators, often called plumbing code or reusable frameworks accelerate the delivery of customized applications and more quickly solve core business problems found in healthcare.
Ready to work with a partner that knows how to solve healthcare’s more pressing technology problems?
Application Accelerator Use Case: FHIR Implementation
Here at KMS Technology, we use application accelerators across many of our healthcare solutions. Let’s take a look at an example of how we use application accelerators to speed up FHIR integration…
Looking for more information about FHIR? Download our free white paper, “Setting Healthcare on FHIR” to learn the benefits of FHIR Implementation, relevant regulations, and who is impacted.
The Problem: A Disconnected Healthcare System
Despite incredible advances in medicine and medical technology, the healthcare industry fails patients in one critical way: access to patient data and health records.
Just try forwarding your medical records from one provider to another and the problem becomes painfully clear. The fragmented and siloed system consists of loosely connected technologies that really don’t like to play nice with one another.
In an attempt to bring healthcare’s archaic infrastructure into the modern age, the U.S. government enacted the 21st Century Cures: Final Rule. One primary goal of The Act is to promote data sharing and interoperability — creating a more connected healthcare system and guaranteeing patient’s ownership of and access to their own data.
But where does that leave healthcare stakeholders? What steps do you need to take to meet these new compliance regulations? And how should you tackle the beast that is implementation?
The Solution: FHIR Implementation Enables Interoperability
Luckily in defining interoperability under the Cures Act, the legislation called for uniform use of FHIR (the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources).
According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, “The HL7 FHIR standard defines how healthcare information can be exchanged between different computer systems regardless of how it is stored in those systems. It allows healthcare information, including clinical and administrative data, to be available securely to those who have a need to access it, and to those who have the right to do so for the benefit of a patient receiving care.”
While previous healthcare interoperability standards have had varying levels of success, FHIR is different in that it broadens the types of information that can be shared (now including unstructured data), increases the volume of data that can be shared, and improves the applications of interoperability between systems.
FHIR Implementation Using the FHIR Framework Accelerator
With the industry at an important inflection point, how should providers, payers, and health innovators proceed? And how can an application accelerator speed up FHIR Integration?
At KMS, we have developed our FHIR Framework Accelerator to assist in the development of FHIR APIs. Acting as middleware, the accelerator leverages FHIR APIs and RESTful web services to provide out-of-the-box connectivity. All with the ability to develop new, additional API connectors as needed.
By starting with the FHIR Framework Accelerator, we are able to simplify and speed up development, reducing costs and improving time-to-market.
And your organization will be able to better exchange Electronic Health Information (EHI), meet critical 21st Century Cures Act Deadlines, and reap the rewards of a more connected healthcare system.
Other Use-Cases for Application Accelerators
Using an application accelerator for FHIR Integration is just one example. We also use accelerators for test management and automation, digital transformation, AI solutions, and more.
Ultimately, we know that healthcare organizations need effective solutions quickly. Application accelerators allow us to optimize our Healthcare Technology Solutions so your organization can achieve your goals on budget and on time.
