Transforming Healthcare Data: Eka Care's Journey from HAPI FHIR to AWS HealthLake

Vishal Kumar Tuniki
on
October 30, 2023

Introduction

In the dynamic world of healthcare, efficient patient data management is indispensable. Eka Care, a pioneering health tech company, fully comprehends the pivotal role of healthcare data in delivering top-tier services. As the volume of healthcare data expanded exponentially, reaching an impressive 10 terabytes, the need for a robust solution to store, manage, and retrieve patient data became increasingly pressing. In this blog, we will delve into Eka Care's journey as it transitioned from HAPI FHIR to AWS HealthLake and explore how this transformation streamlined healthcare data management on an unprecedented scale.

The Significance of FHIR

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) plays a central role in modern healthcare data exchange. It provides a standardized format for healthcare data, enabling seamless interoperability among diverse systems and applications. FHIR ensures that patient data is not only accessible but also structured in a manner that healthcare providers can effectively utilize. Eka Care, deeply committed to delivering exceptional healthcare services, has consistently prioritized FHIR as the linchpin of efficient data management.

The Challenges Encountered

Eka Care's transition to AWS HealthLake was driven by the need to simplify healthcare data management and ensure robust performance, especially in terms of read latencies and support for high concurrency. HAPI began to exhibit some limitations with the growing scale. At the time, AWS HealthLake was not available in India. Recognising the importance of Eka Care's requirements and the necessity of complying with local regulations that mandate patient data to remain within India's borders, AWS made dedicated efforts to make AWS HealthLake accessible in the region. This availability marked a significant milestone in Eka Care's journey.

  1. A Managed Solution: AWS HealthLake relieved Eka Care from the complexities of infrastructure management, enabling the team to focus on application development and service enhancement rather than getting bogged down by the underlying technology stack.
  2. Efficient Handling of Concurrency: AWS HealthLake excels in high-concurrency environments, supporting up to 1,000 write operations and an impressive 3,000 read operations per second. This ensures uninterrupted access to patient data, even at Eka Care's massive scale.
  3. Simplified Data Migration: In contrast to the custom-built capabilities required to move data from HAPI FHIR, AWS HealthLake leverages integrated AWS services, streamlining data migration into a more straightforward and efficient process.

The Impact of AWS HealthLake in India

The availability of AWS HealthLake in India represents a significant development for Eka Care. It has simplified the complexities of managing healthcare data on a massive scale, opening new avenues for delivering high-quality healthcare services to a wider audience.

Conclusion

Eka Care's journey from HAPI FHIR to AWS HealthLake underscores the evolving landscape of healthcare data management. While HAPI FHIR remains a robust choice for low to medium-scale healthcare environments, it becomes increasingly challenging when dealing with vast amounts of data. The transition to AWS HealthLake has provided Eka Care with a managed solution that simplifies healthcare data management, streamlines operations, and facilitates the delivery of quality healthcare services. With the availability of AWS HealthLake in India, Eka Care is poised for a new era in healthcare data management, ensuring that patient data is secure, accessible, and delivered efficiently as FHIR resources.