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Quickstart Guide

TL;DR / Key Takeaways

  • •Go live with your first EHR integration in under 60 minutes.
  • •No in-house interoperability engineering required — pre-built SMART on FHIR nodes handle authentication and queries.
  • •OAuth credentials are auto-secured in your AWS vault and deployed within your VPC.
  • •ConnectHealth manages token refresh, EHR adapters, and data mapping out of the box.
  • •Validate integrations live in the browser before deploying to production.

Create your first EHR connection and build a live patient search workflow in under 15 minutes. This guide assumes you have already deployed ConnectHealth via AWS Marketplace.

Time: 15 minsDifficulty: Beginner

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have completed the following:

  1. AWS Marketplace Subscription: Active subscription to ConnectHealth.
  2. Infrastructure Deployment: The CloudFormation template has successfully deployed the ConnectHealth ECS containers into your VPC.
  3. Admin Access: You have administrator access to the ConnectHealth console via the URL from your CloudFormation Outputs tab (see AWS Marketplace Setup — Step 9).

Step 1: Create an EHR Connection

ConnectHealth uses a Modular Adapter Pattern to support different EHRs (Epic, Cerner, Athena) without spaghetti code. We'll start by connecting to an Epic Sandbox.

1

Navigate to Connections

In the left navigation menu, click on Connections, then click the New Connection button.

2

Select Epic System

Choose Epic from the list of available integrations. This loads the EpicOAuthService factory under the hood.

3

Configure OAuth Credentials

Enter the Client ID and Base URL provided by your Epic App Orchard/Connection Hub portal. The system automatically secures these credentials in AWS Secrets Manager within your tenant context.

Base URL: https://fhir.epic.com/interconnect-fhir-oauth/api/FHIR/R4

4

Test Connection

Click Test & Save. ConnectHealth will perform a SMART on FHIR backend-to-backend authentication handshake to verify access.

Step 2: Open the Workflow Builder

Now that you have a verified connection, let's build a workflow that actually uses it.

  1. Navigate to Workflows in the side menu.
  2. Click Create Workflow.
  3. Choose Blank Canvas (you can also choose from pre-built templates later).

You are now in the visual Workflow Builder canvas.

Step 3: Build a Patient Search Flow

We'll build a simple API endpoint that accepts a patient name and returns their FHIR Patient resource from Epic.

1. Add an HTTP Trigger

Drag an HTTP In node from the Networking category onto the canvas. Configure it:

  • Method: GET
  • URL: /patient-search

Note: All workflow routes are automatically prefixed with /api/workflow/{workflow_id}/.

2. Add Authentication

Drag a Backend to Backend node from the SMART Auth category. Connect the output of the HTTP node to the input of this node. Select your Epic connection.

3. Setup the Search Filter

Drag a FHIR Search Filter node. Connect it to the Auth node. Configure it to map the URL query parameters to the FHIR search parameters.

Pro Tip: Most EHRs (like Epic) require specific parameter combinations. Searching by just name often fails in production sandboxes.

  • Resource Type: Patient
  • Parameter 1: family = {{req.query.family}}
  • Parameter 2: given = {{req.query.given}}
  • Parameter 3: birthdate = {{req.query.dob}}

4. Execute FHIR Search

Drag a FHIR Search node. Connect it to the Search Filter. This node will execute the actual query against Epic using the generated token and filter.

5. Return Response

Drag an HTTP Response node. Connect the output of the FHIR Search node to it. This returns the FHIR Bundle back to the caller.

HTTP In → Backend Auth → FHIR Search Filter → FHIR Search → HTTP Response

Step 4: Test Your Workflow

You don't need to deploy to test. ConnectHealth has a built-in live testing environment.

  1. Open the Debug/Test Panel on the right side of the screen.
  2. Select the Inject tab.
  3. Simulate an incoming request by providing test query parameters for the Epic Sandbox user:

    {"family": "Lopez", "given": "Camila", "dob": "1991-07-16"}
  4. Click Run Test.
  5. Watch the execution flow highlight each node. Click on the FHIR Search node to see the raw FHIR Bundle returned from Epic for Camila Lopez in real-time.

Step 5: Deploy

Once you are satisfied with the test results:

  1. Click the green Deploy button in the top right corner.
  2. ConnectHealth performs a hot-reload of the integration engine.
  3. Your new endpoint is now live at https://<your-connecthealth-url>/api/workflow/<workflow_id>/patient-search?family=Lopez&given=Camila&dob=1991-07-16.

What's Next?

  • Nodes Catalog — FHIR, HL7 and every other node, with inputs and outputs
  • Security Architecture — Understand how your PHI stays secure in your VPC
  • Helix AI Assistant — Build this exact same workflow using plain English