Client
Genomics Company, a clinical genomics company providing decision support integrated directly into electronic health records (EHRs).
Challenge
As Genomics Company expanded the functionality of its genomic decision support tools, there was a critical need to produce clear, comprehensive, and developer-accessible documentation for its evolving API and integration points. The tool was designed to surface genomic insights in real time across multiple clinical workflows, yet the documentation lacked the structure, use case clarity, and implementation guidance required by EHR partners and engineering teams. Without consistent, well-scoped documentation, integration timelines were at risk and implementation quality varied widely.
Objective
To produce a unified, actionable documentation set that:
- Explained Genomics Company’s API endpoints, clinical alert logic, and patient-facing workflows in practical, real-world terms
- Mapped clearly to the core use cases and integration patterns across EHR environments
- Ensured both technical and clinical stakeholders could quickly grasp how and where Genomics Company services fit into patient care and system architecture
- Reduced friction during partner onboarding and API implementation
Solution
We developed an API documentation set grounded in clinical use cases, workflow triggers, and data expectations, organized around the real-world integration points of the Genomics Company platform.
Key deliverables included:
- Use Case-Driven API Design: Documentation was structured around five core clinical workflows:
- Drug-genome interaction alerts at prescribing time
- Display of the patient’s genomic profile within the EHR
- Physician authorization for genotyping/sequencing
- Alert/result feeds into the clinician’s data stream
- Contextual genomic insights from problem list entries
- Role-Based Content Structure: Created tailored documentation for clinical informatics leaders, EHR implementers, and backend integration engineers
- Actionable, Embedded Detail: Provided detailed breakdowns of data payloads (e.g., CCD/CDA documents, patient genotype summaries, evidence strength indicators), required triggers, and expected UI behavior (e.g., inline alerts, tabbed genomic displays)
- Interactive Site Draft: Built a documentation site prototype with logical navigation, searchable content, and room for code samples, live API test links, and user onboarding instructions
- Support for Iterative Expansion: Created a living documentation framework to accommodate new features such as custom gene panels, alert preferences, and patient authorization UX evolution
Results
- Equipped Genomics Company with a documentation foundation that could scale with product capabilities while remaining easy to navigate
- Accelerated EHR partner onboarding by offering concrete examples and UX expectations at each integration point
- Enabled developers to quickly implement and test Genomics Company’s API within clinical systems using clearly defined endpoints and triggers
- Supported clinicians and informaticists in evaluating evidence strength, clinical utility, and workflow fit without needing to interpret raw genomic data
Technologies Used
- Planned support for standardized healthcare data protocols, such as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR).
- Clinical document exchange formats, including Continuity of Care Document (CCD) and Clinical Document Architecture (CDA).
- Representational State Transfer (REST) web APIs for system integration.
- Structured data formats, including XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for request and response payloads.
- Electronic Health Record (EHR) integration with major platforms (e.g., Epic, Cerner).
- Web-based documentation authored in HTML.
- Clinical use case modeling to align technical capabilities with real-world workflows.
- Prototype internal web portal to host and organize documentation for developers and clinical teams.
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