FHIRedApp

Name: FHIRedApp
Author: University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

DOCUMENTED

Published in academic literature

For:General Public & EnthusiastsPatients & Caregivers

Free

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

App Summary

FHIRedApp provides patients with a single point of access to their health records from multiple providers, allowing them to easily view and share their information to manage their care. The associated research details its development using a human-centered design process with active involvement from diverse community members, and a usability evaluation indicated high satisfaction rates. The authors conclude that this community-engaged approach can help create more equitable and user-friendly technologies that empower patients to take control of their health information.

App Screenshots

Detailed Description

Functionality & Mechanism

FHIRedApp is a patient-facing health information platform designed to aggregate medical records from multiple providers into a single, secure interface. The system leverages national interoperability standards, including HL7® FHIR® for data structure and OAuth2 for authentication, to establish secure connections with provider portals. The platform's core mechanism facilitates patient-controlled access to their consolidated health data and enables them to grant and manage sharing permissions with third-party applications via secure application programming interfaces (APIs).

Evidence & Research Context

The platform's architecture is detailed in a research article describing its development, which was guided by a Human-Centered Design process and a Community Engagement Studio methodology.
The co-design process actively involved diverse community stakeholders, including Latinx, African-American, and Asian-American individuals, to ensure user needs and preferences were met.
Initial usability evaluations conducted during development indicated high user satisfaction rates with the platform's interface and data access functions.
The associated research demonstrates the technical application of interoperability and authentication standards to create secure, patient-centric engagement technologies.

Intended Use & Scope

This tool is intended for patients and the general public to manage personal health information. Its primary utility is as a data aggregation and portability platform, facilitating secure access to and sharing of medical records. The application does not provide clinical interpretation, diagnostic services, or treatment recommendations. All health-related decisions require consultation with a qualified healthcare professional.

Studies & Publications

1 publication

Peer-reviewed research associated with this app.

Development/Design Paper

FHIRedApp: a LEAP in health information technology for promoting patient access to their medical information

Khurshid et al. (2021) · JAMIA Open

Describes the research-driven development of this app

Our aim is to develop a patient engagement technology that makes it easy for patients to access their own medical information and share it with others. This paper describes our design through an adapted Community Engagement Studio methodology to identify the needs and preferences of a diverse group of Latinx, African-American, and Asian-American individuals in the community. We use Human-Centered Design to interpret these needs and preferences to build a digital app platform, using national data standards, clinical data aggregators, and privacy-preserving solutions while maintaining the security and confidentiality of patients. We designed and developed FHIRedApp, an app platform, that allows patients to access their data and to share that access as HL7® FHIR® application programming interfaces with third-party app developers. We accomplished 2 major tasks: first, to demonstrate the use of interoperability and authentication standards, such as HL7® FHIR and OAuth2, to help develop patient engagement technologies, and second, to co-develop and co-design FHIRedApp with active involvement of African-American, Latinx, and Asian-American community members. Usability results show high satisfaction rates for FHIRedApp. The development of FHIRedApp demonstrates how technology innovations using national interoperability standards can be informed through a methodology of community engagement and human-centered design that involves local racial and ethnic groups.

In the Media

ONC-Funded FHIR Project for Patient Data Access Takes Health Equity Focus

The University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School developed FHIRedApp to improve patient data access for diverse communities, using FHIR APIs and human-centered design methodology focused on Latino, African American, and Asian American patients. The team conducted 20 Community Engagement Studio sessions with ethnically and racially diverse patients from Central Texas to identify desired features through beta testing, interviews, and pilot testing. Dell Med received funding as a 2019 ONC Leading Edge Acceleration Projects awardee to create this health equity-focused patient engagement platform.

TechtargetRead article

Where APIs meet Health Equity by Design: Introducing the FHIRedApp Health Innovation

The University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School developed FHIRedApp to enhance patient engagement for care and research with a focus on health equity, using APIs and national interoperability standards like FHIR and SMART on FHIR. The team conducted 20 Community Engagement Studio sessions with ethnically and racially diverse patients from Central Texas to identify desired features through human-centered design methodology. The platform connects to FHIR API endpoints from certified EHR technologies and leverages health information exchanges as data aggregators from multiple EHRs.

HealthitRead article

Dell Medical School Building FHIR-Based Community Data Platform

Dell Medical School at the University of Texas developed FHIRedApp as part of their FHIR-enabled Social and Health Information Platform (FHIRed-SHIP), using grant funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to integrate social services referrals through electronic health records. The platform leverages FHIR APIs and the Gravity Project's use case package to address social determinants of health including food security, housing stability, and transportation access. The system creates a closed-loop referral system accessible through EHRs used by Federally Qualified Health Centers to exchange information between clinical providers and community-based organizations.

ConnxusRead article