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The picture

flowchart LR
    A[Your app] <-->|API| N[NexHealth]
    N <-->|sync| H[Practice's health record system]

Your app talks to NexHealth. NexHealth keeps a copy of each practice's data and keeps it in sync with the practice's own health record system. Reads come from that copy. Writes go to NexHealth first and into the health record system after.

Each practice has its own health record system. Most run on a Windows server in the office. Some run in the cloud. NexHealth installs a sync for each one.

The ten words

• Practice. The business: a dental office, a dermatology clinic, a group with twenty offices. In the API a practice is an institution, and a subdomain names it.
• Location. One office at one address. Most records belong to a location, and most calls take a location_id.
• Provider. A dentist, doctor, hygienist or anyone else with a schedule. provider_id.
• Operatory. A chair or a room. Some systems book by operatory and some do not. The location tells you which: map_by_operatory.
• Appointment type. What the visit is for and how long it takes. A cleaning, 60 minutes. appointment_type_id.
• Patient. A person with a chart at that practice. The same person at two practices is two patients.
• Health record system. The software the office runs its day on. Staff say PMS, EHR, EMR, or the brand: Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, athenahealth. NexHealth connects to 15 of them.
• Sync. The NexHealth software that connects one health record system to NexHealth. One per server or cloud account. When it is off, writes wait.
• Subdomain. The practice's name in the API. Almost every call needs ?subdomain=.
• foreign_id. A record's id inside the health record system. Null until NexHealth has written the record there.

Two things about time

• A write returns 201 when NexHealth accepts it. It reaches the health record system on the next sync cycle, usually within minutes, and a webhook tells you when. See How a write reaches the health record system.
• The office's server can be off at night, and a cloud system needs a staff member logged in. Writes wait until then. Do not hold a patient on the line for a write.

One thing about your sandbox

Your sandbox is a sample practice with sample data and no health record system behind it. Every read works. No write goes anywhere. Sandbox and test mode says what that means for each call.

Next: Quickstart: book your first appointment.