Implementation Paths

Health Gorilla supports multiple implementation paths depending on your organization's role in the healthcare ecosystem. The selected path determines which APIs, scopes, workflows, and delivery models apply to your integration.

Before beginning development, identify the implementation path that best reflects how your organization will access, contribute, or receive clinical data through Health Gorilla.

Common Implementation Models

Health Gorilla integrations typically fall into one or more of the following models. Some organizations support multiple models within a single tenant.

EHR and Health IT Vendors

Electronic health record (EHR) vendors and Health IT platforms integrate with Health Gorilla to embed record retrieval, event-driven notification delivery, ordering workflows, or clinical data viewing into their applications.

Typical characteristics include:

• Programmatic Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) API access for retrieval and writeback
• Use of Patient360 workflows for longitudinal record assembly
• Optional use of Clinical Alerts or admission, discharge, transfer (ADT) notifications
• Embedded viewing through a secure iFrame, launched using the SMART on FHIR protocol

Provider Organizations and Health Systems

Provider organizations integrate with Health Gorilla to retrieve external records, receive notifications about patient activity, and access diagnostic ordering and results workflows.

Typical characteristics include:

• Record retrieval across national interoperability networks
• Event-driven visibility through Clinical Alerts or ADT notifications
• Use of the Lab Network for orders and results
• Configuration across multiple facilities within a single tenant

Health Information Exchanges and Networks

Health information exchanges and network operators use Health Gorilla to extend exchange reach or support cross-network interoperability.

Typical characteristics include:

• High-volume record retrieval and contribution workflows
• Emphasis on data normalization, provenance, and auditability
• Support for both FHIR-based and document-based exchange models

Impact on API Usage

The selected implementation path affects how your system interacts with Health Gorilla APIs.

Key areas of impact include:

• Available FHIR resources and operations
• Required OAuth 2.0 scopes
• Supported writeback workflows
• Notification delivery models
• Use of embedded UI components

Not all features apply to every implementation path.

How Implementation Paths Map to Health Gorilla Products

Health Gorilla products are typically used in combination, but most integrations begin with one primary workflow.

Common patterns include:

• Patient360, record retrieval: Used across most implementation paths, including EHR vendors, provider organizations, and health systems. Patient360 workflows emphasize read access, identity resolution, and retrieval of external clinical records from participating networks. Record retrieval also includes the Individual Access Service (IAS), which supports patient-initiated, right-of-access requests through the API.

• Clinical Alerts and ADT notifications, subscription services: Commonly adopted by provider organizations and EHR vendors that need event-driven visibility into patient activity. These workflows focus on subscription configuration and delivery validation rather than interactive querying.

• Lab Network, orders and results: Typically used by provider organizations and EHR vendors supporting diagnostic ordering and results workflows. These integrations involve writeback capabilities, role-based access controls, and operational configuration beyond basic API access.

Many organizations use more than one product within a single tenant. The Developer Quickstart focuses on establishing authenticated API access and validating connectivity, regardless of which product workflows are enabled first.

Selecting Your Path

Your implementation path is defined during onboarding and implementation and may evolve as additional workflows are enabled. Health Gorilla configures tenant features, scopes, and delivery models based on the agreed integration approach.

Confirm the implementation path before proceeding with development to ensure API behavior and access align with intended use cases.