How to Prepare for Your Integration

Successfully establishing an integration project requires thorough preparation and planning. We aim to ensure that you are well-prepared to start your integration process, collaborate with Intely's integration support team to design your solution and achieve as seamless an implementation and activation as possible.

Below are some preliminary steps to ensure you are ready to design and build an integration.

1. Assess End-User Workflows

You want to make sure you have a good grasp of how your product or solutions work for end-users as an integrated system. By understanding how they interact, we can better design a highly efficient and usable integration.

List the main activities and tasks that users complete in each system and identify where there are inefficiencies or data breakpoints.
Solicit feedback from end-users of the product or app.
Brainstorm how integration could connect this data and activity for a better experience.
Draw flowcharts or visual representations of the ideal workflows.

2. Assess Data Requirements

After designing the ideal end-user workflows, you want to create their data flow blueprints. By identifying the data requirements, we can easily do a full and thorough feasibility analysis for each system.

List the data necessary for the integration (e.g., patient demographic data, appointment and visit data, orders, results, etc.) and split them into two categories:
- Essential Data: Minimum data required for integration to be valuable
- Bonus Data: Additional data that would enhance the integration but is not critical
Identify and define what events will trigger data transfer (newly created data, an update to existing data, etc.) and determine if the data should be pushed automatically or if one system will need to poll the other.
Create a document that details each data point and the direction of data flow between the two systems.

3. Identify Client Connection Sites

You need to identify which client connection sites and/or workflows will be included in the first phase of your implementation and which will come later.

Whether you have one or many clients generally, the first few sites are champions willing to work on setting up an initial workflow and iterating to improve it. These initial sites play a crucial role in the early stages of your integration project and provide valuable feedback.

Whether you have one or more workflows, the first workflow will help define the process around expanding and creating additional workflows.

EMR Connection Approval

Many electronic medical record systems have approval processes for using their API. The Intely Team is well-versed in navigating this process and can help you and your team.

It is better to start this process very early on in your integration project and journey, as the approval process generally takes several weeks at minimum and several months at maximum.

EMR Connection Fees

Some EMRs also charge a usage fee to use their API or a setup fee for HL7 interfaces for client connections. Engaging early on with the vendor is important to understand any costs associated with integration.

4. Assess System and App Connections

We want to create a clear and structured approach to integration. This helps ensure all app connectors are built and ready to go when needed.

Immediate Connections: Identify the systems and applications that must be connected immediately. This will generally be dictated by business requirements and customer needs.
Roadmap Connections: Create a timeline for integrating other systems or workflows. Prioritize this list based on what seems most important for your business and users.