How APIs and design thinking are moving the needle on healthcare innovation

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the digital economy has revolutionized the way that we engage with patients, empower providers and optimize workflow.

Application programming interfaces and other technologies hold great possibility in addressing system problems of data access, insights delivery and technology implementation.

With APIs and design thinking at the center of these new paradigms, a new mindset is required to engage with and employ these technologies in the healthcare environment.

"A digital economy solution is defined by systems of data, insight, experience and engagement that use composable micro-services and APIs to connect data, workflows and experiences, AL/ML to enrich the systems of insight and experience and digital distribution of the solution across multiple, connected product experiences: APIs, prepared data extracts, apps and full software solutions," said Gautam "G" Shah, VP of platform and marketplace at Change Healthcare.

He said by using this digital economy and digital-first blueprint, healthcare organizations can create data rich, experience optimized solutions that are easy to access and use.

Gautam, who will speak on the topic at HIMSS21 this week, explained the digital design model allows solution designers to connect the experience, interactions and outcomes they desire to the systems of experience and data that provide them.

He explained efficient use of the digital design model comes from using a solution design model that decouples systems of engagement, insight, experience and data from each other.

"We use APIs to source, process and feed relevant data and insights into experiences and engagements and deliver capabilities in easy-to-use packages, for example APIs, data extracts and applications," Gautam said.