What you need to know about healthcare APIs and interoperability

Application programming interfaces enable information systems to communicate and transfer data among each other. Depending how it is configured, an API can enable a system to send or retrieve data that can update an individual’s record or provide collective data that can be used to create reports. An API also can send information from one system to another.

A healthcare provider organization, for example, can input a patient’s information into a system that works with insurance companies and nearly automatically determine the patient’s coverage for a specific procedure or medication. That is enabled by an API.

APIs have a big part to play in health IT interoperability in the years ahead, especially as the data exchange rules of the 21st Century Cures Act encourage their standardization and proliferation across the healthcare ecosystem. Here, some API experts point the way forward for APIs and describe where they can be of most help.