Getting Started

Building out the full-scope integration with Ocean's CC FHIR module is a large project. However, you may only use a small subset of these Resources yet still achieve a useful integration for your user base. It depends on how many Ocean products and features you would like to support. In any case, you can build out your integration incrementally in small, manageable pieces as part of an agile process.

Suggested Cloud Connect Implementation Strategy

  1. Start by familiarizing yourself with FHIR, OAuth2 and this documentation. In this project specifically, focus on the iguide, the Resource Profiles, and the Documentation files associated with each individual FHIR Resource.
  2. Determine which Ocean products are highest priority for your integration and read the respective overviews in this guide for these products. Use the product overviews to determine the subset of FHIR Resources you will need to implement.
  3. Each FHIR Resource Profile has additional documentation that explains Ocean's use of the Resource as well as the specific RESTful calls and expectations.
  4. Use the Profiles to determine specifically which fields are read and/or updated by Ocean; these fields are the ones to focus on. You do not need to support every field in the FHIR Resource. We do not preclude integrators from using additional FHIR fields beyond this specification, but we do expect vendors to support our omission of these extra fields when writing data back via POST/PUT etc.
  5. Start implementing Authorization as a proof-of-concept, since this functionality will be required at an early stage to secure and test the API.

Setup Your Test Site

Once you have implemented Authorization and your base set of FHIR Resources, you may wish to start testing with an Ocean client. Request assistance from the Ocean support team to set up your Ocean site in the test environment (https://test.cognisantmd.com, https://testcc.cognisantmd.com).

Note: for the test server, you may need to request allowlisting for your email domain from the Ocean admin team in order to receive the usual activation emails; otherwise they may be blocked by the firewall.

Once you have signed into your test site, you can proceed to activate Cloud Connect using the "Cloud Connect" link inside the Ocean portal's main navigation window.

You may also proceed at this time to set up a similar test Ocean site with the production server https://ocean.cognisantmd.com.

Other Tips

  • Consider building the simpler read-only endpoints first as a proof-of-concept, such as the ValueSet, Practitioner and Patient/
  • Use a RESTful API client such as Postman to test against your OAuth2 authorization and RESTful endpoints.
  • Strongly consider building an automated test suite of the API as you go. This test-driven development will enhance your efficiency in the long term and ensure that the integration doesn't break with future changes to your code.
  • Configure Cloud Connect to connect to your system by supplying the authorization credentials in the Cloud Connect web app. If it works, try "synchronization" and testing the use cases using Ocean. Good luck!