N.Y.’s Healthix, Hixny Collaborate on SMART on FHIR App

Two of the largest health information exchange organizations in New York State, Healthix and Hixny, are offering a SMART on FHIR app called Concise that provides a patient record snapshot that quickly delivers data within the provider’s EHR workflow.

SMART on FHIR was developed as an open, free and standards-based API. Innovators use it to write an app once and have it run anywhere in the healthcare system, according to its creators.

Developed by Hixny, which serves Eastern New York and parts of Vermont, the Concise app allows providers to see the same patient information through their EHR that they would through the HIE provider portal. With just a click inside the EHR, the clinician can access the patient record, without having to log into that portal anymore.

Healthix is among the largest public HIEs in the nation, bringing together more than 8,000 healthcare facilities across New York City and Long Island. The collaboration between Hixny and Healthix means that providers at half of the hospitals in New York State will have access to data from across the state’s healthcare community using the same interface within the workflow of their EHR.

“For years, we [health information networks] have been limited by EHRs,” said Mark McKinney, Hixny’s CEO, referencing a recent blog he posted. “But with FHIR specifications being strongly promoted by the federal government to solve the problem of interoperability nationwide, we are beginning to gain serious traction. This patient record snapshot is just a scratch on the surface of the solutions we can provide using SMART on FHIR to support improvements in healthcare.” 

“With increasing demands for comprehensive data and unencumbered access, Healthix reached out to Hixny to leverage a solution that works for busy providers seeking quick, efficient access to vital information,” said Todd Rogow, president and CEO of Healthix, in a statement.  “We saw an opportunity to build upon a growing partnership between our organizations and to share best practices, leveraging the expertise each public HIE brings to patients across New York State.”

“Some of the city’s largest health systems have demonstrated interest in integrating Healthix Concise,” Rogow noted, adding that the application is especially advantageous for complex networks that cross multiple hospitals and other facility types sharing the same electronic health record (EHR) for their patients. The ease of integrating within some of the industry’s largest and most widely used EHRs makes it especially valuable.