Using SOA to Empower “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style (not a technology) that can help healthcare providers realize the ambitious goals and expectations surrounding EHR systems. Implemented properly, SOA can help healthcare IT organizations reduce systems-integration costs, improve visibility and control over business processes, and enable reuse, while providing an architecture that empowers the business and increases the ability to change. EHR systems are poster children for SOA because SOA provides an architecture that is intended to support change and innovation. However, SOA will require new approaches to managing EHR implementation and deployment and new approaches to enterprise software governance.
SUMMARY
Impact
Ovum view
Key messages
EHRs ARE PART OF A WAVE OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE TO HEALTHCARE
Change is the new business norm for healthcare
EHRs are part of the latest wave of change to hit healthcare providers
New IT architectural approaches are essential to realizing the promise of EHRs
EXISTING HOSPITAL IT APPLICATION SILOS HINDER INNOVATION
Legacy system silos impede effective EHRs
Most healthcare providers have highly heterogeneous IT environments
Traditional systems integration approaches have hit the wall
EHRs present significant systems-integration challenges
Even simple EHR transactions can be complex
Dealing with third-party providers and institutions compounds the challenge
WHY SOA?
It’s about integration and business agility
SOA frees data and processes from application jailhouses
HOW SOA ENABLES EHRs DEPLOYMENT
SOA isolates the impact of physical system changes
SOA enables EHR flexibility
EHRs SOA support varies
A QUICK SOA PRIMER
SOA is an architecture, not a product
SOA’s core principles
SOA’s definition
SOA’s “units”
SOA’s actors
SOA’s modularity
USE CASE – GREENFIELD SOA EHR IMPLEMENTATION
SOA-based EHR system provides needed flexibility
Defining frameworks for service taxonomies and governance
EHR security provides good example of SOA in practice
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
Roles – Who should ask for SOA and when?
Implementation paths
Governance basics
A preliminary SOA governance checklist
RECOMMENDATIONS
Guidance for healthcare providers
APPENDIX
Ask the analyst
Further reading
Methodology
Impact
Ovum view
Key messages
EHRs ARE PART OF A WAVE OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE TO HEALTHCARE
Change is the new business norm for healthcare
EHRs are part of the latest wave of change to hit healthcare providers
New IT architectural approaches are essential to realizing the promise of EHRs
EXISTING HOSPITAL IT APPLICATION SILOS HINDER INNOVATION
Legacy system silos impede effective EHRs
Most healthcare providers have highly heterogeneous IT environments
Traditional systems integration approaches have hit the wall
EHRs present significant systems-integration challenges
Even simple EHR transactions can be complex
Dealing with third-party providers and institutions compounds the challenge
WHY SOA?
It’s about integration and business agility
SOA frees data and processes from application jailhouses
HOW SOA ENABLES EHRs DEPLOYMENT
SOA isolates the impact of physical system changes
SOA enables EHR flexibility
EHRs SOA support varies
A QUICK SOA PRIMER
SOA is an architecture, not a product
SOA’s core principles
SOA’s definition
SOA’s “units”
SOA’s actors
SOA’s modularity
USE CASE – GREENFIELD SOA EHR IMPLEMENTATION
SOA-based EHR system provides needed flexibility
Defining frameworks for service taxonomies and governance
EHR security provides good example of SOA in practice
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
Roles – Who should ask for SOA and when?
Implementation paths
Governance basics
A preliminary SOA governance checklist
RECOMMENDATIONS
Guidance for healthcare providers
APPENDIX
Ask the analyst
Further reading
Methodology
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: SOA benefits
Figure 2: SOA-enabled applications
Figure 3: Service taxonomy
Figure 4: SOA governance framework
Figure 5: Discovery of services by new consumers sets off a separate chain of events
Figure 1: SOA benefits
Figure 2: SOA-enabled applications
Figure 3: Service taxonomy
Figure 4: SOA governance framework
Figure 5: Discovery of services by new consumers sets off a separate chain of events
