Abstract

Objective

This study: 1) characterized the app market by EHR app gallery and type of app; 2) tracked changes in the EHR app galleries from the end of 2019 through 2020; and 3) examined how apps connect to EHR data systems, and if the apps support the HL7 FHIR standard.

Materials and Methods

We developed a program that gathered data from the public app galleries hosted by Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner Corporation, Epic Systems Corporation, and SMART. Data collection for this study began in December 2019 and ended December 2020. The program was run 11 times during this period, and the data collected were used to generate the findings and trends observed in this study.

Results

The total number of unique apps increased from 600 to 734 during the study period. The most common types of apps marketed were intended for administrative (42%) and clinical use (38%). About 1 in 5 apps (22%) described support for the FHIR standard. Support for FHIR varied by intended functionality and gallery.

Discussion

This study provides early insights into the number of third-party apps that are connecting to EHRs, what services they provide, and if these connections use standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs).

Conclusion

It is a federal government priority to improve the access and use of electronic health information, including third-party apps that can introduce competition as well as best-of-breed functions and user experiences. This study shows that there is room for growth, and variation exists among some of the largest EHR developers.

中文翻译：

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与经过认证的健康信息技术集成的应用程序和软件生态系统

摘要

客观的

本研究： 1) 通过 EHR 应用程序库和应用程序类型来表征应用程序市场；2) 跟踪 EHR 应用程序库从 2019 年底到 2020 年的变化；3) 检查应用程序如何连接到 EHR 数据系统，以及应用程序是否支持 HL7 FHIR 标准。

材料和方法

我们开发了一个程序，该程序从 Allscripts、athenahealth、Cerner Corporation、Epic Systems Corporation 和 SMART 托管的公共应用程序库中收集数据。本研究的数据收集于 2019 年 12 月开始，2020 年 12 月结束。该程序在此期间运行了 11 次，收集的数据用于生成本研究中观察到的结果和趋势。

结果

在研究期间，独特的应用程序总数从 600 个增加到 734 个。市场上最常见的应用程序类型用于行政 (42%) 和临床用途 (38%)。大约五分之一的应用程序 (22%) 描述了对 FHIR 标准的支持。对 FHIR 的支持因预期功能和图库而异。

讨论

这项研究提供了有关连接到 EHR 的第三方应用程序数量、它们提供的服务以及这些连接是否使用基于标准的应用程序编程接口 (API) 的早期见解。

结论

改善电子健康信息的访问和使用是联邦政府的优先事项，包括可以引入竞争以及同类最佳功能和用户体验的第三方应用程序。这项研究表明存在增长空间，并且一些最大的 EHR 开发商之间存在差异。