Patient API Overview

Patient API Overview

Overview

  • With the Medfusion Patient API, you can keep new and updated patient information synchronized between a practice EHR/PM system and Medfusion systems. The exchanged information can include:
    • Patient demographic information
    • Emergency contact information
    • Insurance information
    • Billing information
    • Patient’s specific provider information
  • It does not include any clinical data or financial information (account balances, payment history, outstanding bills, refunds, discounts, etc.) You can use the Forms API to pull any other patient information to the EHR/PM, and you can use the CCD API to send clinical data from your system to Medfusion.
  • Exchanging information with the Patient API is a prerequisite for using any of the other APIs:
    • You use the Patient API to create patient records in the Medfusion system that correspond with patient records in the practice system.
    • When new records are created, the Medfusion system sends an email to the patients inviting them to visit the practice’s Patient Portal and register. (See the Patient Invitation workflow for more information.)
    • The other APIs only let you send and receive data about registered patients, so you have to start with the Patient API to invite patients to register with the Patient Portal.
  • Medfusion should be the “System of Record” for registered patients, and the patients must make any demographic updates through the Patient Portal. Any demographic updates that the practice makes in the EHR/PM will not be updated in Medfusion systems and will not appear in the Patient Portal.
  • An initial set of patient demographic information is sent from the partner system to Medfusion when the patient is invited to use the Patient Portal. Once the patient registers with the Portal and completes any registration forms, the updated demographic information is returned to the partner system after a “GET patient” request. Any demographic updates made by the practice after inviting the patient to use the Portal will not appear in the Portal.
  • Child elements of the <Name> element can’t be empty. For example. MiddleName and Suffix are both optional so it’s okay to not include them in the XML, but <MiddleName /> is not valid (must be at least one character).
  • Medfusion APIs will follow the standard ISO8601 formats for all time elements, unless otherwise noted (http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/#dateTime). The standard format will include the timezone. For UTC (the preferred time zone to be used for timestamps), the time zone is specified as ‘Z’. The API documentation will clearly specify any deviation from the ISO8601 recommendation.
    For example, an alternative format is to specify timestamps as epochs since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC, either in seconds (POSIX time) or milliseconds (Java).

 

Workflows

1. Patient Invitation

The Patient Invitation workflow is initiated when a practice staff member adds a new patient to the EHR/PM system, or invites an existing patient to create a portal account.

 

  1. Practice staff member adds new patient with required minimal information (First Name, Last Name, DOB, Gender, Email Address) orselects an option to invite an existing patient to use the Patient Portal.
  2. EHR/PM system POSTs patient information plus MRN to Medfusion system.
  3. Medfusion system creates new patient record with PROVISIONED status and sends email invitation to patient.
  4. Patient sign into Patient Portal and completes registration and health history form, if requested.
  5. Medfusion system updates patient information and changes patient status to REGISTERED.
  6. EHR/PM system sends GET request on a regular basis to retrieve new and updated patient information.
  7. Full patient information for updated patient is returned by Medfusion system to EHR/PM system.

2. Patient Update from the Patient Portal

This workflow starts when a registered patient signs into their portal account and adds or changes some information.

 

  1. Patient signs into Patient Portal and adds or updates information, and the changes are stored in the Medfusion system.
  2. EHR/PM system sends GET request on a regular basis to retrieve new and updated patient information.
  3. Full patient information for updated patient is returned by Medfusion system to EHR/PM system.

HTTP Request Workflows

The Patient API workflow requires the EHR/PM system to send patient data to Medfusion using the HTTP POST method, and to receive patient data from Medfusion using the HTTP GET method. Currently Medfusion does not initiate any data transfers. This flowchart shows the GET workflow; see Asynchronous Batch Processing for the POST workflow.

*Please note: Patients are returned in batches of 100 at a time, please do not query for more than a max of 100.

 

← Patient APIs

→ Patient API GET Patient

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