At first blush, it might be tempting to view Kaiser Permanente’s just announced API initiative, Interchange, as a carbon copy of Aetna’s CarePass platform, and while there is a good chance that it will grow to become similar to CarePass, Kaiser Permanente has already made clear that there is an open API line that it won’t cross.
KP’s API initiative will stop at making personal health information shareable via APIs.
“Initially, Interchange by Kaiser Permanente will make our facility and location information available for third party developers to integrate into apps. This includes location, hours of operation, and specialty information for Kaiser Permanente’s 37 hospitals and more than 600 medical offices,” Phil Fasano, executive vice president and chief information officer at Kaiser Permanente told the crowd at Health Datapalooza down in Washington, DC this week. ”Our intent is to continue making additional data available to developers via APIs, including research information and wellness data. It is important to note that keeping patient information private and secure is a top priority at Kaiser Permanente and personal health information will not be made available externally via API technology. Our goal is to make information that is already publicly available more accessible in a more efficient way.”