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Patient-facing apps often need to exchange data with clinical health IT systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs). This resource provides considerations to address challenges app developers face in achieving interoperability. Without alignment on standards and integration approaches, apps may not support clinical workflows, limiting their utility in care delivery and patient engagement. 

About the Topic Highlight 

This concise resource is based on a CDSiC report from the Standards and Regulatory Frameworks Workgroup, Improving Interoperability of Patient Apps with the Health IT Ecosystem, and explains: 

• The ideal state of interoperability between patient-facing apps and clinical health IT systems
• The types of data that can be exchanged
• Key data standards for interoperability
• Examples of app-clinical system integration
• Considerations for app developers to support interoperability 

It focuses on apps that are prescribed, recommended, or monitored by clinicians and approved by health systems. 

How to Use This Topic Highlight 

App developers can use this resource to better understand interoperability considerations and standards when designing apps that are used in clinical care and approved for integration with clinical health IT systems. 

Suggested Citation: Leaphart D, Richesson RL, Correa KH, Ahmed A, Boxwala AA, Desai PJ, Dullabh PM, and CDSiC Standards & Regulatory Frameworks Workgroup. Making Patient Apps Interoperable with the Health IT Ecosystem. Prepared under Contract No. 75Q80120D00018. AHRQ Publication No. 25-0053. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2025.