Since the implementation of the ONC final interoperability rule, medical providers and developers are more incentivized than ever to promote patient access to EHRs via third-party applications and APIs. Engaging patients in their healthcare treatments is critical for empowering them and encouraging them to take control of their health.
This focus on building innovative mobile app solutions to increase patient access to their personal health records can transform the current storage systems as we know it. As developers continue to streamline patient access to their healthcare data, physicians can also improve patient care outcomes.
Iron Bridge reviews the impacts that the ONC final interoperability rule will have on the current FHIR standard in its latest article.
How New APIs Can Reduce Clinician Burden
Iron Bridge Examines the Impact That APIs Have on Clinician Workflow

When dealing with diagnostic or treatment issues, physicians can also turn to APIs to access EHRs and make decisions based on the data they provide. Read on to learn more about the ways in which APIs ultimately lessen clinician burden.
- Physicians spend less time on clerical work — APIs reduce a number of administrative tasks that typically burden physicians and take precious time away from focusing on patient care.
- APIs can reduce numerous barriers to finding and sorting through patient data — Instead of having to share a patient’s entire medical record, physicians can exchange only relevant details with other clinicians.
- Physicians can save time on tedious tasks — By sharing only relevant patient information for a procedure or test, this can save other healthcare providers a great amount of time rifling through documents to find one that actually pertains to their issue.
- Mobile apps can increase patient engagement rates — By being able to access their clinical notes, patients are more likely to follow up on medical tests and physician referrals.
- Apps can help physicians make critical medical decisions — In addition to giving patients and healthcare providers access to important EHRs, third-party apps can analyze medical tests and help physicians make informed medication selections.
How Developers and Healthcare Providers Can Encourage Innovation for APIs
The Final Rule is the First Step on a Long Journey Toward Improving Health IT Interoperability

While the ONC Cures Act Final Rule is a great start to improving patient-physician relationships and lessening clinician burden, it is only the first step on a long journey to achieving true, semantic, health IT interoperability.
To improve the capabilities of these emerging mobile apps, developers must work toward ensuring the following capabilities:
- Allowing easy installation and removal of apps to enhance their user experience
- Maintaining the ability for all medical records are kept confidential and private to encourage more patients to download new EHR apps
- Making MRI scans available on apps so physicians can gain a full understanding of their patients’ past tests while also reducing the number of duplicate tests they have to order
- Adding editing capabilities to APIs to make it easier for clinicians to add pertinent information to a patient’s file
- Enabling CDS apps to operate in the background and integrate themselves into a user’s workflow
Experience State-of-the-Art Technology That Exceeds the FHIR Standard
Meet fhirstation — a Leading Turn-Key Solution for EHR Vendors

At Iron Bridge, we continually challenge ourselves to provide innovative solutions for EHR vendors and healthcare providers in the United States. Designed to comply with the Cures Act as well as the ONC and CMS Final Rules, fhirstation safely prevents information blocking through its turn-key USCDI v1 FHIR v4 Saas platform. Thanks to its innovative structure, patients, health IT developers, and EHR vendors can enjoy seamless information exchange through fhirstation.
Fhirstation’s key features include:
- USCDI v1 compliance
- EHI export capabilities
- Multi-tenant capabilities for isolating customer data to a single EHR location
- Access to a customized data lake
- Native FHIR data models and RESTful API
- SMART on FHIR
- Terminology services for industry coding systems
- Implementation services for unlocking EHRs and health plan data
Compliance to the ONC Cures Act Final Rule
Instead of investing valuable time and effort in meeting the ONC Cures Act Final Rule, let a team of FHIR standard experts take the lead. hirstation by Iron Bridge is designed to follow the latest 21st Century Cures Act and ONC and CMS Interoperability Final Rule, letting you focus your attention on continuing to add value to your products and solutions.
Iron Bridge is dedicated to simplifying interoperability in the U.S. health care system. Along with its comprehensive selection of IT solutions, Iron Bridge offers fhirstation — a SaaS solution built to assist EHR vendors in complying with the Cures Act as well as the ONC and CMS Final Rules . To learn more about how fhirstation can improve your company’s healthcare interoperability, contact the team at Iron Bridge today.