Big news from Health Datapalooza: Just minutes ago, Kaiser Permanente Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Phil Fasano, announced to the hundreds present in the Omni Shoreham Regency Ballroom that KP is launching its first application programming innovation program, called Interchange (sm). This will allow for easy collaboration between the health organization and health apps developers to improve health care and health-related experiences.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to announce this endeavor,” Fasano told the crowd. He noted that keeping information private and secure continues to be a priority at KP, and that Interchange will allow sharing this API while still maintaining its high level of security and privacy.
At its launch, Interchange will make KP’s public facility and location information available for third-party developers to use within their apps. A Code-A-Thon is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week at the Center for Total Health, and developers are invited to use the Interchange API to create apps.
Future plans for Interchange includes enabling developers to build apps by accessing activity-based data from tracking devices. For KP members who choose to share their activity information through Interchange, lifestyle apps are possible. The health care organization is also looking at sharing Kaiser Permanente research data later down the road.
For more information on this announcement, you can visit the Kaiser Permanente News Center here.