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Veradigm Inc. (formerly Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.) and Altera Digital Health represent the two successor technology ecosystems created when Allscripts restructured its ambulatory, hospital, and life sciences data businesses in 2022–2023. Because hospital IT departments, ambulatory networks, and clinical research organizations still frequently encounter legacy “Allscripts” system names in technical documentation, understanding which entity now governs each EHR platform and API gateway is essential for clinical integration and real-world data (RWD) engineering.
How Did Allscripts Split Into Veradigm and Altera Digital Health?
In May 2022, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions completed the divestiture of its Hospitals and Large Physician Practices business segment to Harris Computer (a business group of Constellation Software Inc.), which established Altera Digital Health to operate the acquired acute and enterprise product lines. In January 2023, the remaining public parent company officially changed its corporate name from Allscripts to Veradigm Inc.
The table below maps the legacy Allscripts product names to their current corporate owner and deployment scope:
| Current Platform Name | Legacy Allscripts Name | Current Owner | Primary Clinical Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veradigm EHR | Allscripts Professional EHR (Pro EHR) | Veradigm Inc. | Independent and mid-sized ambulatory medical practices |
| Practice Fusion | Practice Fusion (acquired by Allscripts in 2018) | Veradigm Inc. | Cloud-native independent ambulatory practices |
| Veradigm Practice Management & Payerpath | Allscripts PM / Payerpath | Veradigm Inc. | Ambulatory scheduling, billing, and clearinghouse operations |
| Veradigm Network RWD | Veradigm Life Sciences / EHR RWD Network | Veradigm Inc. | De-identified longitudinal ambulatory EHR datasets and cardiology/metabolic clinical data registries |
| Altera TouchWorks EHR | Allscripts TouchWorks EHR | Altera Digital Health | Large multi-specialty physician groups and academic faculty practices |
| Altera Sunrise | Allscripts Sunrise Clinical Manager (SCM) | Altera Digital Health | Acute care hospitals, academic medical centers, and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) |
| Altera Paragon | Allscripts / McKesson Paragon EHR | Altera Digital Health | Community and critical access inpatient hospitals |
| Altera dbMotion | Allscripts dbMotion Solution | Altera Digital Health | Enterprise health information exchange (HIE) and semantic data aggregation |
How Do Developers Integrate With Veradigm EHR and TouchWorks via Unity and FHIR APIs?
Both Veradigm EHR and Altera TouchWorks share an architectural heritage that combines modern standards-based HL7 FHIR endpoints with the transactional Unity API framework.
1. ONC (g)(10) HL7 FHIR R4 and SMART on FHIR APIs
To satisfy the ONC Health IT Certification Program 45 CFR § 170.315(g)(10) standardized API mandate, Veradigm EHR, Practice Fusion, Altera TouchWorks, Altera Sunrise, and Altera Paragon expose FHIR Release 4 (R4) APIs aligned with the HL7 US Core Implementation Guide:
- Supported Clinical Resources: Read access to USCDI data classes including
Patient,Condition,Observation(vitals and labs),MedicationRequest,AllergyIntolerance,Immunization,Procedure,DiagnosticReport,DocumentReference,CarePlan,CareTeam,Goal, andProvenance. - SMART on FHIR Launch & OAuth 2.0: Supports patient standalone launch, clinician EHR-embedded launch, and backend system services using OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect token exchange.
- FHIR Bulk Data Access (
$export): Supports asynchronous multi-patient NDJSON cohort extraction for population health analytics, eCQM reporting for hospitals, and observational research registries.
2. The Unity API for Bi-Directional Write Workflows
Because the standard ONC `(g)(10)` FHIR R4 endpoints across Veradigm EHR and TouchWorks are primarily read-only for clinical resource queries, third-party developers building bi-directional workflow integrations rely on the Unity API (managed through the Veradigm Connect / Developer Program and Altera partner portals). Unity uses a centralized action-dispatch pattern (historically invoked via the `Magic` JSON/SOAP endpoint with specific action verbs such as `GetPatient`, `SaveNote`, `SaveVitals`, or `GetSchedule`) to perform write-back operations:
- Creating, modifying, and canceling patient appointments and provider schedules;
- Writing discrete clinical observations, vital signs, and structured note sections back into the active chart;
- Submitting clinical task notifications, referral orders, and charge capture codes.
How Does Altera Sunrise EHR Handle Inpatient Clinical Interoperability?
In acute hospital environments, Altera Sunrise integrates inpatient clinical documentation, computerized provider order entry (CPOE), emergency department tracking, surgery/perioperative management, and inpatient pharmacy onto a single relational database. Hospital informatics teams integrate Sunrise across three interoperability tiers:
- HL7 v2.x Real-Time Event Messaging: High-throughput inpatient workflows—including patient admission/discharge/transfer (`ADT`), laboratory and radiology orders (`ORM`) and results (`ORU`), pharmacy administration (`RAS`), and billing charges (`DFT`)—communicate via HL7 v2.x interface engines.
- HL7 C-CDA R2.1 and Direct Secure Messaging: Transitions of care and discharge summaries are generated and consumed as Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture (C-CDA) XML documents across regional HIEs and TEFCA networks.
- Altera dbMotion & FHIR R4 Gateways: Multi-hospital systems running heterogeneous ambulatory and inpatient EHRs use dbMotion to normalize disparate local lab, medication, and problem codes into a unified virtual patient record accessible directly inside the Sunrise clinician workspace, while exposing ONC-certified FHIR R4 endpoints to external applications.
Real-World Data (RWD) and Clinical Research Applications
Beyond transactional EHR software, the Veradigm Network aggregates de-identified longitudinal ambulatory EHR and practice management records linked with closed claims data and specialty society registries (such as American College of Cardiology PINNACLE and Diabetes Collaborative Registry cohorts). Life sciences researchers use these linked datasets for retrospective cohort studies, comparative effectiveness research, and external control arm feasibility alongside claims databases such as Merative MarketScan.
Sources
- Veradigm Inc. Veradigm Developer Program, Unity API, and ONC Certified FHIR R4 API Documentation. https://developer.veradigm.com/
- Veradigm Inc. Corporate Restructuring and Ambulatory EHR / Real-World Data Portfolio Overview. https://veradigm.com/
- Altera Digital Health. Sunrise, TouchWorks EHR, Paragon, and dbMotion Interoperability & ONC Certification. https://www.alterahealth.com/
