Why Flexible APIs Are The Future Of Healthcare

Simply providing at-home healthcare options isn't cutting it for patients anymore. As consumer demands and the healthcare landscape continue to shift five years after the pandemic, consumer preferences have settled somewhere in the middle between at-home healthcare and in person care – favoring healthcare providers and solutions that provide choice. 

Managing and implementing a diverse range of healthcare services, while important to remain competitive, presents operational challenges for providers. Choosing an API-first healthcare partner unlocks seamless care options for providers and patients without the heavy lift. 

What Is An API 

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and specifications that allow different software systems to communicate with each other to exchange data, features and functionality. APIs act as a bridge between organizations and tools, and have many benefits including:

1. Creating seamless integrations
2. Accelerating development and innovation
3. Improving efficiency
4. Enhancing the user experience
5. Reducing costs 

Why Do Flexible APIs Matter In Healthcare

APIs have helped advance the healthcare system over the past twenty years and power every day operations including Electronic health records, billing operations, care navigation tools, and more. 

For a patient, APIs enable them to stay within a provider’s ecosystem by removing the friction of having to navigate to other platforms to complete actions or get information. It reduces patient dropoff and increases satisfaction. For a provider, APIs enable them to provide a seamless and branded care experience without extra clicks. 

Flexible APIs are designed to adapt to various needs and situations, offering multiple ways to interact with data and functionalities. In the instance of health testing, a partner with a flexible API platform can provide extensive connections to power all of a provider's health testing needs from one place, unlocking:

1. Ordering at-home labs across the nation 
2. Ordering in-person lab visits
3. Ordering in-home phlebotomy services
4. Provider of record capabilities
5. Flexible collection methods and unlimited test options

In-Person And At-Home Testing With Ash

This past quarter, Ash onboarded a leading, nationwide, in-person lab testing partner onto our platform. This integration allows our clients and providers to have the flexibility to offer patients the testing modality that works best for them, with a single partner. 

When given the choice, a majority of our patients opt for at-home sample collection. The addition of in-person sample collection unlocks additional panels that can’t be collected at-home, like a complete blood count, and captures the patient segment who would prefer to go to a patient service center. 

The experience is easy for partners and patients:

1. Partners place a lab order for in-person testing or at-home collection kit
2. If in-person, an email is sent to the patient to schedule their appointment
3. Ash deploys optional engagement campaigns to nudge patients to go onsite to have their sample collected
4. Patients go to the nearest patient service center to have their sample collected
5. Results are released to the Ash platform to both the client and patient

API Infrastructure At Ash

Ash was developed as an API-first platform with the intention to enable partners to easily gain access to an entire suite of services needed to offer a testing program, without the operational lift of having to manage these services. This enables clients to create a seamless experience for both internal stakeholders and patients. 

The Ash platform has API integrations with over 10 distinct API service groups that seamlessly connect our clients, providers, and patients to:

• Provider API: Made up of a network of providers licensed in all 50 states that review and approve every order and result, and connect with patients to discuss out of range results. 
• Order and Fulfillment API: Our ISO 13485 designated fulfilment center receives real time notifications to build and dispatch each clients unique kit
• Lab Service API: We pair each client with a lab from our network of CLIA certified and CAP accredited labs that can process any biomarker and collection device.
• Authentication API: Ensuring security and only approved users are accessing the platform 

Ash has over five years experience and more than ten distinct API service groups that service more than 40 partners. In 2024 alone, the platform sent over 1.5 million notifications via API to providers, clients, and patients in our ecosystem. 

Reach out to us if you are interested in learning more about our platform and discussing how it can help you meet your organizational goals.