Health Tech Vendors: Is Iguana the Right Fit For You?

Many health technology vendors have projects that require integration with EHRs and begin by looking for a third party solution that can support that need.

The challenge is that this phrase can refer to two very different approaches, which in turn affects the type of solution that is actually needed. One focuses on patient portal access, where users sign in and share a standardized set of records with your product. The other involves enterprise integration, where systems exchange operational data that supports clinical workflows.

These two paths use different methods and support different types of solutions. Knowing which one fits your product will help you choose the right product and avoid confusion later.

The first kind of EHR integration

Patient authorized record access

This approach lets users retrieve parts of their medical history by signing into their own patient portals. Once they grant permission, your app receives a standardized set of information such as medications, problems, allergies, vitals and lab results.

This is the right approach for digital health apps that focus on individuals or families.

Examples of products that fit this category

• Caregiver coordination apps
  A daughter signs into her parent’s portals and gathers their medications and lab results in one place so she can track changes easily.
• Personal health record apps
  A user wants a complete copy of their own health information stored in an app they control.
• Chronic condition and wellness apps
  An app provides insights or reminders based on a person’s past diagnoses and lab trends.
• Home testing and consumer diagnostics apps
  Users pull their lab results from their portals so the app can explain them or track progress.

These apps rely on patient portal credentials. They do not involve clinical workflows inside a hospital or clinic. There are no orders to send, no real time messages to route and no HL7 variation to manage. Apps in this category do not need an enterprise integration engine.

Many companies operate in this patient authorized record access space, including well known names such as Human API, Particle Health, Health Gorilla, Invitae’s Ciitizen platform and consumer facing tools like Apple Health Records. These solutions help users connect their patient portals and retrieve a standardized set of records for personal or caregiver use. They do not handle the operational workflows inside hospitals and clinics. This is a different category from the enterprise system integration that Iguana supports.

The second kind of EHR integration

Enterprise operational interoperability

This approach supports internal health system workflows. Systems exchange information continuously through HL7 v2, APIs, files and other established formats. This data is varied and tied to clinical and administrative tasks that must happen reliably.

This is the world Iguana is designed for.

Examples of products that fit this category

• Lab ordering and results systems
  A clinician places an order. The lab receives it in real time. The result must return to the correct system, mapped and validated.
• Hospital admission and transfer feeds
  When a patient moves from one unit to another, many systems need immediate updates through HL7 ADT messages.
• Radiology and imaging workflows
  Orders, status updates and reports move between EHRs, PACS and reporting tools, often with custom formatting.
• Pharmacy and medication workflows
  Dispense records, prescription changes and reconciliation steps flow between multiple systems.
• Population health and reporting pipelines
  Data must move continuously into registries, analytics platforms and quality measurement tools.

These workflows require routing, transformation, acknowledgements and monitoring. They often run at high volume. They also depend on formats and interactions that patient portals do not expose. This is the type of integration Iguana supports.

Why these two approaches are often mixed up

Both use data from EHR systems, but the purpose is completely different. Patient authorized access is centred on the user and only exposes the portion of the record that regulations require. Enterprise integration is centred on clinical operations and involves every system that supports care.

When someone needs to "integrate with an EHR", they might mean either one without realizing it, and understanding the distinction is important.

How to tell which one your app needs

These simple questions will help.

If yes, you need patient authorized access

• Does your app ask users to sign in with their own patient portal credentials?
• Is your goal to let a user or caregiver view medical history?
• Do you only need the standardized information shown in patient portals?

If yes, you need enterprise operational integration

• Does your app need to send or receive orders?
• Do you need real time messages, acknowledgements or workflow triggers?
• Do you need to connect systems inside a hospital, clinic or lab?
• Do you need to manage HL7 v2 or other operational formats?

Most digital health apps fit the first category. Products in this category do not need integration engines like Iguana. A smaller group of companies operate in the second category and require enterprise level capabilities.

What Iguana helps with

Iguana supports the operational side of health care. It manages high volume data flows between clinical and administrative systems. It handles HL7 variation, transformation logic, routing, monitoring and reliability. It is built for environments where accurate workflows are essential.

Iguana is not designed for apps that simply retrieve patient authorized records from portals. Other tools serve that purpose.

Choosing the right path forward

Integrating with an EHR can mean two very different things. One path focuses on patient portal access, where users share their own information with your product. The other supports enterprise workflows inside hospitals, clinics and labs, where systems rely on real time, high volume data exchange. These two approaches serve different needs and require different tools.

Understanding which category your solution falls into will guide your technical choices and clarify whether an enterprise integration engine like Iguana is the right fit. If your product involves operational workflows or system to system communication within a provider organization, Iguana can support that work with the reliability and flexibility these environments require. If you are still determining which path matches your use case, iNTERFACEWARE can help you evaluate your options.