VivoDoc selects the NexHealth Synchronizer API to integrate with health record systems

Challenge

VivoDoc works with hundreds of medical practices and has to exchange data with each one. This means synchronizing information between VivoDoc’s cloud-based platform and each practice’s unique electronic health record (EHR) system, which could be deployed in the cloud or on-premises.

After patients book an appointment online, VivoDoc writes the data to the practice’s EHR. They also capture check-in forms and append the data to each patient’s health record to save time for office managers and deliver a consistent and convenient patient experience.

VivoDoc knew that scaling would be difficult because of the numerous EHR systems used by their practices. According to The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, there are at least 618 certified EHR vendors in use today.

“Understanding the details for how to integrate with each EHR was just the first challenge,” said Dr. Rahman Mohammed, co-founder and CEO of VivoDoc. “Getting information from the EHR, documenting it, performing maintenance, and implementing new functionality all created additional complexity.”

VivoDoc initially estimated it would take two developers approximately two months each to complete a single EHR integration. Once they started building, they discovered integrations would take much longer. Each EHR has a distinct data model, onboarding process, and set of capabilities that make one-off integrations challenging.

“We want to solve the problem of connecting patients and doctors, not solve the problem of how to integrate with EHRs,” Dr. Mohammed said. “We quickly found ourselves becoming an integration company, which was pulling our time and resources away from solving our customer’s problems.”

Solution

Once VivoDoc attempted an EHR integration on their own, they knew they needed to pivot. “We looked for a solution that could provide a single view of the data model, as well as an API that would abstract away multiple underlying EHRs that our providers are using,” Dr. Mohammed said.

VivoDoc discovered NexHealth could help them connect to EHRs quickly and reliably without having to write custom code for each one. They validated this by integrating to a major EHR via NexHealth’s API with just a single developer in a few weeks. They were able to read and write data to each EHR in near real-time, enabling common workflows like collecting check-in forms and scheduling online appointments. This has helped VivoDoc deliver on their promise of improving office productivity and driving interaction between patients and physicians.

VivoDoc’s increased development velocity also helped them grow the number of practices they serve, while redirecting developer resources toward their core mission.

“The ease of integration really stood out to us, and any time we did have a question we were able to get the right answers very quickly,” said Meraj A. Khan, co-founder of VivoDoc.

“We’re able to focus on scaling our infrastructure to support growth, rather than dedicating most of our resources toward integration,” Dr. Mohammed added.

Results

With integration under control, VivoDoc has been able to both extend their platform capabilities and keep costs low for their practices. This is critical as many providers rebound from COVID-19 and seek to operate efficiently while deepening engagement with their patients.

In just their first EHR integration with NexHealth, VivoDoc reduced development costs by 75%. They’ve also been able to rapidly develop more integrations for additional practices without high upfront costs thanks to NexHealth’s usage-based pricing that scales with their growth.

With NexHealth, VivoDoc is accelerating their mission of connecting patients and physicians. “We’re able to save physicians’ costs and increase satisfaction for both patients and doctors,” Dr. Mohammed said. “The whole patient journey — from thinking of seeing a doctor until after seeing the doctor — is becoming as frictionless as possible.”