Skip to content
Search to learn about InterSystems products and solutions, career opportunities, and more.

InterSystems IRIS for Health™ and First Line Software to Streamline Clinical Research Workflows on i2b2

InterSystems IRIS for Health joins the i2b2 community to close interoperability gaps and enhance collaboration among the research community

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 29, 2021 — InterSystems, a creative data technology provider dedicated to helping customers solve the most critical scalability, interoperability, and speed problems, today announced that InterSystems IRIS for Health™ is now recognized as a data platform for i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology & the Bedside) alongside Postgres, MS SQL, and Oracle. A data platform specifically engineered to extract value from healthcare data, InterSystems IRIS for Health will support the i2b2 community to improve research workflows and performance outcomes.

Prior to the creation of i2b2, clinical research data management was a manual process. Because of that, data was often very siloed, which meant research needed to be conducted based on data available at a single research site. Developed as an open-source resource kit, i2b2 helped break down those barriers and has made it possible to find patients that fit study criteria across many sites, independent of their location, improving collaboration and lessening interoperability gaps in the process.

“With more than 100 large research institutions around the world using i2b2 technology, the global i2b2 research community has led many large-scale clinical research efforts, including those of COVID-19,” said Qi Li, MD, physician executive at InterSystems, who also serves on the i2b2 tranSMART foundation board. “However, research communities still look for solutions that can accelerate clinical trial recruitment and real-world evidence development.”

With support from InterSystems implementation partner First Line Software, a premier provider of software engineering, enablement, and digital transformation advisory services, InterSystems IRIS for Health will modernize the capabilities of i2b2. With InterSystems IRIS for Health, the i2b2 community and clinical researchers will be equipped with a modern, intuitive platform to improve researchers’ workflows including:

  • FHIR-Based Solution Development — An extensible FHIR repository and comprehensive REST APIs provide the foundation for modern healthcare application development.
  • Certified Healthcare Interoperability — Support for FHIR, HL7 V2, IHE, and other standards and protocols to simplify and automate data capture and refresh processes for the i2b2 data repository.
  • Seamless Data Management — The ability to seamlessly handle multiple forms of data at high speed, with vertical and horizontal scalability. i2b2 researchers can easily manage genomic data, high-frequency medical devices, or wearable data, and use InterSystems IRIS NLP to extract information from unstructured text.
  • Open Analytics — The choice of embedded, standards-based, and best-of-breed analytics technologies for exploration, analysis, and prediction using InterSystems IRIS technology such as IntegratedML and Python integration.

“When it comes to clinical research, connecting patient data from a wide range of healthcare organizations and creating a single source of truth is essential,” said Scott Gnau, Head of Data Platforms at InterSystems. “With the help of InterSystems IRIS for Health, the i2b2 community will be equipped with more than just a database of information, but a variety of capabilities that allow researchers to extract actionable data in real-time for a more intuitive and seamless experience.”

For more information about how InterSystems IRIS for Health can benefit your organization’s healthcare initiatives, visit: https://www.intersystems.com/products/intersystems-iris-for-health/

About InterSystems

Established in 1978, InterSystems provides innovative data solutions for organizations with critical information needs in the healthcare, finance, and logistics sectors and beyond. Our cloud-first data platforms solve interoperability, speed, and scalability problems for organizations around the globe. InterSystems also develops and supports data management in hospitals through the world’s most proven electronic medical record, as well as unified care records for health systems and governments through a powerful suite of healthcare data integration solutions. The company is committed to excellence through its award-winning, 24×7 support for customers and partners in more than 80 countries. Privately held and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, InterSystems has 25 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit InterSystems.com.

About First Line Software

First Line Software is a premier provider of software engineering, software enablement, and digital transformation advisory services. The company leverages its agile technological excellence to efficiently deliver complex projects in healthcare & life sciences, web content management & eCommerce, retail digitalization, warehouse & logistics management, machine learning, and enterprise data management. First Line Software is consistently recognized with industry rankings and awards from independent global research agencies. As active members in Object Management Group and the Industrial Internet Consortium, the company collaborates on establishing standards for technology, enterprise integration and Industrial Internet. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the global staff of 800+ technical experts serve clients across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Learn more at http://www.firstlinesoftware.com/

Latest News About InterSystems

Take The Next Step

We’d love to talk. Fill in some details and we’ll be in touch.
*Required Fields
Highlighted fields are required
*Required Fields
Highlighted fields are required

By submitting your business contact information to InterSystems through this form, you acknowledge and agree that InterSystems may process this information, for the purpose of fulfilling your submission, through a system hosted in the United States, but maintained consistent with any applicable data protection laws.



** By selecting yes, you give consent to be contacted for news, updates and other marketing purposes related to existing and future InterSystems products and events. In addition, you consent to your business contact information being entered into our CRM solution that is hosted in the United States, but maintained consistent with applicable data protection laws.