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FHIR API Getting Started Guide

The FHIR APIs documented here have been implemented by a payer organization using an InterSystems Payer Services solution in order meet the requirements of CMS-0057-FOpens in a new tab for the exchange of health care data.

Audience

This documentation is provided to help the partners of a payer organization use the FHIR APIs to exchange health care data.

Prerequisites:

Service Overview

The FHIR APIs are designed in compliance with the CMS-0057-F regulations, which were written to enhance the exchange of health care data with the aim of improving prior authorization processes while reducing burden on patients, providers, and payers.

The APIs use the HL7® FHIR® R4 standardOpens in a new tab, a globally recognized framework for health care information exchange. To connect your application to these APIs, you will need to ensure that your application supports this standard.

Each service that a payer organization supports includes a FHIR server, which is an application that receives and processes FHIR requests through the published APIs.

Service Information

To use these APIs, you will need to know the base URL of the FHIR server that you will be connecting to. The payer organization should provide you with this information.

The base URL should be of the form:

https://<host>:<port>/<instance_identifier>/api/fhir/<service_identifier>

For example:

https://PayerX:8443/InstanceX/api/fhir/DTR

Capability Statement

The FHIR Capability Statement identifies the set of capabilities of the FHIR server for a particular version of the FHIR standard.

You can retrieve the Capability Statement for the service with a call to:

GET <BaseURL>/metadata

Connecting Your Application

In order to use the FHIR APIs, you (or your organization) must be set up as a client of the payer organization’s service that you will be accessing. The payer organization will register you as a confidential OAuth client with the necessary scopes to access the services you are authorized to use. The payer organization should then provide you with a URL and the client credentials (client ID and client secret) you will need to obtain a bearer token using a scope specific to the service that you are accessing. An example is shown below in Postman®:

In the auth header, enter an Access Token URL, Client ID, Client Secret, and Scope

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