Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • July 2018
  • Article
  • Journal of Medical Internet Research

Reimagining Health Data Exchange: An Application Programming Interface-Enabled Roadmap for India

By: Satchit Balsari, Alexander Fortenko MD, MPH, Joaquin A. Blaya PhD, Adrian Gropper MD, Malavika Jayaram LLM, Rahul Matthan LLM, Ram Sahasranam, Mark Shankar MD, Suptendra N. Sarbadhikari PhD, Barbara Bierer, Kenneth D. Mandl MD, Sanjay Mehendale MD, MPH and Tarun Khanna
  • Format:Electronic
ShareBar

Abstract

In February 2018, the Government of India announced a massive public health insurance scheme extending coverage to 500 million citizens, in effect making it the world’s largest insurance program. To meet this target, the government will rely on technology to effectively scale services, monitor quality, and ensure accountability. While India has seen great strides in informational technology development and outsourcing, cellular phone penetration, cloud computing, and financial technology, the digital health ecosystem is in its nascent stages and has been waiting for a catalyst to seed the system. This National Health Protection Scheme is expected to provide just this impetus for widespread adoption. However, health data in India are mostly not digitized. In the few instances that they are, the data are not standardized, not interoperable, and not readily accessible to clinicians, researchers, or policymakers. While such barriers to easy health information exchange are hardly unique to India, the greenfield nature of India’s digital health infrastructure presents an excellent opportunity to avoid the pitfalls of complex, restrictive, digital health systems that have evolved elsewhere. We propose here a federated, patient-centric, application programming interface (API)–enabled health information ecosystem that leverages India’s near-universal mobile phone penetration, universal availability of unique ID systems, and evolving privacy and data protection laws. It builds on global best practices and promotes the adoption of human-centered design principles, data minimization, and open standard APIs. The recommendations are the result of 18 months of deliberations with multiple stakeholders in India and the U.S., including individuals from academia, industry, and government.

Keywords

Health Information Exchange; India; Health APIs; Health Care and Treatment; Information; Data and Data Sets; Technology; Health Industry; India

Citation

Balsari, Satchit, Alexander Fortenko MD, MPH, Joaquin A. Blaya PhD, Adrian Gropper MD, Malavika Jayaram LLM, Rahul Matthan LLM, Ram Sahasranam, Mark Shankar MD, Suptendra N. Sarbadhikari PhD, Barbara Bierer, Kenneth D. Mandl MD, Sanjay Mehendale MD, MPH, and Tarun Khanna. "Reimagining Health Data Exchange: An Application Programming Interface-Enabled Roadmap for India." Journal of Medical Internet Research 20, no. 7 (July 2018).
  • Read Now

About The Author

Tarun Khanna

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Is Hybrid Work the Best of Both Worlds? Evidence from a Field Experiment

    By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Christos A. Makridis and Kyle Schirmann
    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Talent@Tencent

    By: Tarun Khanna, Shu Lin and Nancy Hua Dai
    • January 2022
    • Faculty Research

    A Note on Contextual Intelligence

    By: Caroline M. Elkins, Tarun Khanna, Vikram S. Gandhi, Karen G. Mills and Leonard A. Schlesinger
More from the Authors
  • Is Hybrid Work the Best of Both Worlds? Evidence from a Field Experiment By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Christos A. Makridis and Kyle Schirmann
  • Talent@Tencent By: Tarun Khanna, Shu Lin and Nancy Hua Dai
  • A Note on Contextual Intelligence By: Caroline M. Elkins, Tarun Khanna, Vikram S. Gandhi, Karen G. Mills and Leonard A. Schlesinger
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College