Premier, a Charlotte, N.C.-based group purchasing organization with more than 3,000 hospital members, supports requiring healthcare data systems to have application programming interfaces.
Because APIs open up the flow of data among often closed and siloed health IT systems, the GPO believes requiring APIs is one of the best solutions for fostering data exchange and promoting data-driven healthcare.
Furthermore, an environment utilizing APIs supports the development of new apps by outside developers, facilitating further evolution of health IT, according to the statement.
"Until we have open APIs in healthcare, providers of care will feel locked into costly and inflexible data systems, causing frustration, limiting innovation and potentially undermining patient safety," reads the statement.
Premier released the statement following the House Energy and Commerce 21st Century Cures Roundtable, a discussion aimed to determine what Congress can do to "bridge the gap between these advances and the regulatory policies that govern them."
More Articles on APIs:
How the SMART Platform Is Fostering App Development
Zoeticx Opens API to Developers
New Report Calls for MU3 to Foster Interoperability, National Health IT Architecture