Case Study · Healthcare IT
Healthcare Communications Platform
6 engineers. ~1.5 years. FHIR integrations and COVID-19 patient chatbots.
A HIPAA-compliant clinical communications platform needed to connect to EHR systems and ship patient-facing chatbots during COVID-19. The internal team was focused on the core product. Silicon Development embedded a 6-person team to own the integration layer and chatbot delivery end-to-end.
Engagement
~1.5 years
Embedded in the engineering org
Team size
6
Engineers, PM, CTO services
EHR vendors integrated
3+
Each with different data models
Industry recognition
Gartner MQ
Clinical Communication leader
What the team needed
The platform needed to talk to EHR systems. Healthcare organizations would not adopt a communications tool that could not exchange patient, encounter, and practitioner data with whatever EHR they already ran. Each vendor had different data models, different connection methods, and different security requirements. The integrations had to be HL7 FHIR-compliant and handle Protected Health Information correctly.
At the same time, COVID-19 created urgent demand for patient-facing chatbots. Health systems needed employee screening, curbside check-in, and return-to-clinic workflows that connected back into the same EHR infrastructure. These could not wait for the internal team's roadmap.
The client needed engineers who could own both the integration layer and the chatbot delivery. Not a handoff. Full ownership from design through production deployment.
Stack
Backend
Ruby on Rails, Node.js
Integration
Mirth Connect, HL7 FHIR
Frontend
VueJS
Infrastructure
AWS, IPSec VPN
What Silicon Development built
The integration layer and patient-facing products that shipped during the engagement.
FHIR integration layer
Bidirectional data exchange between EHR systems and the platform using Mirth Connect. Patient, encounter, and practitioner records mapped through HL7 FHIR. Replaced fragile parsing with the official FHIR Ruby library for deterministic message mapping. Versioned API endpoints with error handling and test coverage.
Multi-vendor EHR integrations
Each healthcare client ran a different EHR. Home health system connected via IPSec VPN with full FHIR model mapping. Community health center integrated through HL7 SIU appointment messages. Large health system required Active Directory sync and mobile app integration. Each one had different data models and security requirements.
COVID-19 employee screening
Daily self-assessment chatbot for hospital staff. Pass/fail tracking visible in the employee mobile app. Automated email alerts to management on failed screenings. Built for a large health system under urgent timelines.
Curbside check-in
Patients check in from the parking lot via chatbot before scheduled visits. Appointment reminders at 3 days, 1 day, and 30 minutes. COVID assessment forms completed before entering the building. Real-time provider notifications on patient arrival.
Return-to-clinic campaigns
Patient-facing chatbot welcoming people back to clinics with safety information. Scheduling integration for booking visits. Live agent handoff when patients needed to talk to someone. Built for a community health center reopening during COVID.
Infrastructure
Mirth Connect server setup and channel configuration. IPSec VPN connections per healthcare client. EHR message bus design using NATS.io with PHI removal before non-production environments. Scheduling integration design.
What changed for the client
Integration layer connected the platform to multiple EHR systems, enabling sales into healthcare organizations that required EHR connectivity
COVID-19 chatbot products shipped under urgent timelines for healthcare clients
FHIR-compliant data exchange for patient, encounter, and practitioner records across multiple EHR vendors
Proposed and implemented the integration lifecycle workflow governing the code merge process
CTO-level technical leadership alongside hands-on engineering delivery
What this shows about the model
The team owned the integration layer and chatbot delivery end-to-end. Not ticket work inside a larger org. Full ownership of a critical capability.
Healthcare integrations require engineers who understand FHIR, HL7, PHI handling, and the reality that every health system runs different infrastructure. The team handled that across multiple vendors.
COVID-19 created urgent demand. The chatbot products shipped fast because the team was already embedded and already understood the platform.
CTO services and hands-on engineering from the same team. Technical direction and code delivery without a handoff between them.
Where to go next
Regulated product teams
How Silicon Development matches engineers into healthcare, biotech, fintech, and other security-sensitive environments.
See regulated teams →How we vet
What Silicon Development checks before an engineer reaches your team, and why the bar changes by role and environment.
See the vetting process →More case studies
Other examples of embedded engineering work across healthcare, legaltech, biopharma, and data-heavy product teams.
See all case studies →Healthcare integrations built by engineers who understand the domain
FHIR, HL7, PHI handling, multi-vendor EHR connectivity. Built by a team embedded inside the client org, not handed off from outside it.