Setting Up your FHIR API Integration

To set up your FHIR API integration in Ocean, you’ll need to follow the steps outlined in this article: HL7 FHIR eReferral Integration Setup Guide. The following sections will explain at a high level what is required to set up your sending and receiving workflows, and future sections will go into the Payload structures.

Receiving an eReferral

Using the FHIR APIs, Ocean sends payloads of message events with the required information and updates made on an eReferral to an integrated eReferral receiving system. To receive an eReferral using the FHIR API Integration, your system will be required to be able to receive and process FHIR API messages. The articles outlined in the Setting Up your FHIR API Integration section should be used to assist in setting up an integration to receive an eReferral from Ocean. Additionally, your system can also send messages to Ocean, updating Ocean on a specific eReferral using the FHIR APIs.

Sending an eReferral

To send an eReferral using the FHIR API Integrations, there are two workflows that are supported; (1) logging into Ocean, sending an eReferral from the Ocean portal and receiving updates on that eReferral via the FHIR APIs, (2) launching from your healthcare system into Ocean using the SMART on FHIR launch and sending an eReferral from Ocean. The latter approach could also include receiving updates on the sent eReferral via the FHIR APIs. However, it’s important to note that the SMART on FHIR launch utilizes different APIs than the eReferral FHIR APIs. More information on setting up both of these APIs is present in the upcoming sections.

Receiving Updates on Sent eReferrals

Ocean can send a copy of the initially sent referral and updates made to the sent eReferral in Ocean to your healthcare system using the FHIR APIs. This feature is currently available to the FHIR APIs on the v0.11.1 version. Once an integration has been set up using the HL7 FHIR eReferral Integration Setup Guide (Steps 1- 6), the option to ‘Post a copy of the referral (all integrations) and all subsequent status updates (FHIR v0.11 only) to this endpoint when a new referral is sent from this site’ should be enabled. This will subsequently allow all updates made on an eReferral sent in Ocean to be sent to the configured endpoint and subsequent healthcare system.

SMART on FHIR

The SMART on FHIR contextual launch workflow uses the SMART App Launch to support single-sign-on and patient contextual launch from a health system into Ocean. It eliminates the need for an additional login into Ocean, expedites referral generation by pre-populating patient demographics, medical information, and other relevant data. Additionally, the SMART on FHIR implementation can be used with other SMART apps, allowing versatility and providing more use cases for your integration implementation.

This integration follows a different Implementation Guide and has additional requirements than the previously mentioned FHIR eReferral API Integration. Therefore, here are some helpful resources to assist with the implementation of the SMART on FHIR workflow:

  • Ocean SMART App Launch Overview: This article provides an overview of the SMART on FHIR EHR Contextual launch including highlighting the requirements and providing information on the patient contextual launch, sequence, etc.
  • SMART on FHIR Implementation Guidance: This article provides information and tips for getting started on a SMART server implementation including setup considerations, guidance for different operations, launch action parameters, etc.

To expedite the referral generation by pre-populating patient demographics and other relevant information, the SMART on FHIR integration uses Profiles with information mapped to Ocean eForm keywords, eliminating manual entry and the associated errors. An extensive list of the profiles and what information which can be integrated with Ocean during the SMART on FHIR launch can be found in the Ocean SMART on FHIR Profiles iGuide. This article describes the profiles expected by Ocean during the SMART on FHIR contextual launch, highlighting the elements that are must support and have required cardinalities. Additionally, a list of all the Ocean keywords and corresponding profile names are present in the Ocean eForm Keywords and Profiles section.