The SMART Platform: early experience enabling substitutable applications for electronic health records

Area of Science:

• Health Information Technology
• Software Engineering
• Healthcare Innovation

Background:

• The Substitutable Medical Applications, Reusable Technologies (SMART) Platforms project aims to create a flexible health IT ecosystem.
• This initiative seeks to address challenges in healthcare costs, standards evolution, and market competition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a health information technology platform featuring substitutable applications (apps) built around core services.
• To foster innovation, competition, and adaptability within the healthcare technology market.

Main Methods:

• The project leverages an app programming interface (API) based on web standards for substitutability.
• Development of 'containers' to abstract enterprise health IT systems and provide consistent data to apps.
• Utilizing funding from the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) Program.

Main Results:

• Completion of the first project phase, including defining the API, developing containers, and creating charter apps.
• Successful execution of the SMART Apps Challenge, generating 15 diverse app submissions.
• Demonstration of system capabilities through a set of initial applications.

Conclusions:

• Strategic decisions are needed regarding the optimal market for SMART platform dissemination.
• Potential dissemination channels include existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendors, new market entrants, and health information exchanges.