Developer Policy

The API that is being documented here is designed to securely facilitate the patient authentication and the sharing of patient data via a Continuity of Care Document (CCD). eMDs client's, the Practice/Clinic, will supply vendor systems with the necessary access tokens for checking API accessibility status for the practice, validate patient through credential authentication and retrieve the patient CCD based on patient elections for expiration, CCD category and/or date range.

Prerequsites: The vendor system will need both a Practice token and an API token provided by the Practice. Once you have these two tokens (provided by the Practice/Clinic) you will be able to experiment with the following web methods.

Requirements

To be able to interact with this API, the following components are required:

  • An application that can interact with a web based (RESTful) API. The API uses JSON format for requests and responses. (The CCD is represented in XML.)
  • The Practice/Clinic's API tokens. These tokens are provided by the Practice with which you wish to create an integration.
  • There is no additional registration needed to consume this API. Once you've obtained Practice tokens, you will have everything you need to create data-sharing requests on behalf of patients.
  • You will need to interact with two primary web methods. (There are a couple helper web methods as well.) The API's technical details are documented here: API Technical Details This technical documentation includes interactivity so you can tinker with the API while working on a design for your system.
    • The first web method creates a request for patient authorization. We handle that on our end, but you'll need to redirect the patient to our authorization web page.
    • Once the patient has authorized the sharing of their data, you can then make a request to get their data.

Date filtering Policy for Clinical Relevance - Solution Series and Plus

The data available from the eMDs Data Gateway is in the following areas of the patient health record. There are capabilities to filter this data by area and by date. As required, this API is enabled to filter the result CCD to a date range established by the patient during the authentication process. Due to clinical best practices, eMDs has decided to include additional category information beyond the selected date range. If filtering by date, there are policies in place to ensure that clinically relevant data for decision making is not excluded. The policies for each area of the patient health record available on the CCD are listed below.

The following list of CCD sections are optionally filtered by date range.

  • Vitals Signs
  • Procedures/Labs
  • Lab Results

The following list of CCD sections are optionally filtered by date range. Observations with an Active status will also be returned, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Problems
  • Medications

The following list of CCD sections return all available patient health information within the EHR, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Social History (Smoking Status)
  • Medication Allergies
  • Immunizations
  • Medical Devices
  • Functional Status
  • Mental Status

CCD sections that return the most recently documented information on a Visit Note, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Assessment
  • Plan of Treatment
  • Referral

CCD sections that return the most recently documented information on a Care Plan, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Health Concerns
  • Goals

Date filtering Policy for Clinical Relevance - Practice Partner

The data available from the eMDs Data Gateway is in the following areas of the patient health record. There are capabilities to filter this data by area and by date. As required, this API is enabled to filter the result CCD to a date range established by the patient during the authentication process. Due to clinical best practices, eMDs has decided to include additional category information beyond the selected date range. If filtering by date, there are policies in place to ensure that clinically relevant data for decision making is not excluded. The policies for each area of the patient health record available on the CCD are listed below.

The following list of CCD sections are optionally filtered by date range.

  • Vitals Signs
  • Procedures/Labs
  • Lab Results

The following list of CCD sections are optionally filtered by date range. Observations with an Active status will also be returned, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Problems
  • Medications

The following list of CCD sections return all available patient health information within the EHR, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Social History (Smoking Status)
  • Medication Allergies
  • Immunizations
  • Medical Devices
  • Functional Status
  • Mental Status

CCD sections that return all documented information on a Visit Note, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Assessment
  • Plan of Treatment
  • Referral

CCD sections that return all documented information on a Care Plan, regardless of the date range specified:

  • Health Concerns
  • Goals

Links

HL7 CDA Implementation Guide
http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/product_brief.cfm?product_id=408
HL7 is the registered trademark of Health Level Seven International.

2015 Cures Update Certification Companion Guide
https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/2015Ed_CCG_Privacy_and_Security.pdf