Interoperability Services

Connecting Health Information for Better Outcomes

Altarum has been helping health organizations achieve their electronic reporting goals for nearly 20 years. We understand the complexities of incorporating patient information from multiple sources while providing the tools and functionality to conduct data analysis and care coordination. We have hands-on experience developing Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) solutions, collaborating with major electronic health record (EHR) vendors, and working closely with interoperability standards organizations. We also regularly contribute to developing HL7 content.

Below are some of our interoperability services.

Interoperability Readiness Assessment and Design
“As is” workflow and infrastructure assessment, standards analysis, and functional and system design.

Standards Development
Data requirement collection, use case development, and authoring of standards.

Integration Services
FHIR, SMART-on-FHIR apps, HL7 V2 message and C-CDA validation, C-CDA viewer apps, Rhapsody, and C-CDA indexing and de-duplication repositories.

Onboarding and Implementation
End-to-end technical assistance, data traffic control and monitoring, data aggregation and analysis, and help desk support.

Featured Work

Below are examples of our interoperability work. In addition to creating applications that support information exchange for disease surveillance and care coordination, we also led the development of a national standard for electronic birth defect reporting and provided end-to-end support for the exchange and processing of cancer case C-CDAs and laboratory pathology V2 HL7 messages.

Interoperability Solutions

Disease Surveillance and Data Quality

We created a web-based system for reporting and disseminating disease outbreak information from providers to public health officials.

Managing Care of Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries

We created an application that renders patient care plans from a consolidated-clinical document architecture, facilitating care coordination among dual-eligibles.

SmileConnect® Referral Technology

We've created a software platform that improves access to dental care among low-income children by making it easier for care providers to coordinate and deliver oral health care.

News and Perspectives

CMS and ONC Release Final Interoperability and Information Blocking Regulations: What Do They Mean for the Public Health Community?

How do the new rules from CMS and ONC on interoperability and information blocking impact public health? Altarum's interoperability standards analyst Craig Newman explains.

COVID-19 Is a Wake-Up Call to Prioritize Public Health Surveillance Funding

Rick Keller of Altarum writes in Healthcare IT News that accurate outbreak data reporting depends on a standards-based and interoperable information infrastructure, which many jurisdictions across the U.S. still do not have.

Contact Us

Rick Keller

Director, Connected Health

Areas of Expertise

Health Information Exchange
Disease Surveillance
Interoperability

Rick manages the development of highly technical health care software systems that support disease reporting, syndromic surveillance, public health registries, and other functions. Rick holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in computer science from the University of Michigan and Oakland University, respectively.

Laura Rappleye

Deputy Director, Connected Health

Areas of Expertise

Interoperability Standards Development
Public Health and Clinical Integration
Health Information Exchange

Laura has 20 years of experience planning and implementing health IT solutions in public health and clinical care settings. She specializes in advancing population health through integrating clinical and public health data sets. Laura has led the creation of standardized implementation guides and automated data quality assurance and validation tools for the state of Michigan. Laura serves as a co-chair for the Health Level Seven (HL7) Public Health Work Group.