Philips BioTel Care Direct Connection - Eliminate User Setup
- Toni Connelly
This article pertains to: Inform (v2)
Connecting the Philips BioTel Care cellular glucose meter via the Validic Marketplace is easy. Users simply complete an account sync by connecting their Philips BioTel Care user account in the marketplace and then they’re done.
However, an even easier user setup workflow is available for cellular sources like Philips BioTel Care. Now, Validic Inform clients can build a workflow using Direct Connection API calls to automatically connect their users to Philips BioTel Care - without requiring the user to complete any steps in the Validic Marketplace.
Direct Connection offers benefits such as:
Setup-free workflow: User interaction is not required to connect the cellular device. Virtually no setup is needed by the user.
App-optional experience: User is not required to use a smartphone to connect or sync readings.
API-based implementation: Clients can implement Direct Connection using simple JSON APIs.
This page details how the Direct Connection APIs work for Philips BioTel Care. To learn more about the Inform integration to Philips BioTel Care, please submit a request to your Validic Customer Success Executive or contact our support team at support@validic.com.
User Authorization for Philips BioTel Care Cellular Devices
Overview
End users cannot purchase Philips BioTel Care cellular devices directly from Philips. These devices must be acquired through a client who has signed a contract with Philips. Validic Inform does not have access to the PHI necessary to ship devices, therefore Inform clients using Philips BioTel Care cellular devices are responsible for acquiring the devices and distributing them to patients/users.
The client is also responsible for registering users directly with Philips BioTel Care and receiving the TelServeID from Philips BioTel Care in order have the necessary information to create the data connection in Inform. The full workflow is detailed in the diagram below:
This guide details the Inform APIs that clients will need to implement in order to create and manage the data connection between Philips BioTel Care and Validic Inform on behalf of the end user. The required steps are:
Provision a user in Validic Inform
Establish the user device connection between Philips BioTel Care and Validic Inform
Receive Philips BioTel Care data in Validic Inform
We also cover disconnecting the user’s Philips BioTel Care device connection, in case the user leaves your program.
Let’s get into the individual steps.
Provision User in Validic Inform
Sample Request
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
POST https://api.v2.validic.com/organizations/:orgid/users?token=:token
{
"uid":"277040620sol3"
}
Where:
:orgid is the Validic Organization ID to associate the user with
:token is the Organization access token
:uid is the client’s user identifier
Sample Response
{
"id": "59b0664cf758800001e13ea9",
"uid": "277040620sol3",
"marketplace": {
"token": "ee889ef9d7fb7a9644c97ef9d69ZSAMPLEa0be23352bdee46a775c066ef0f890",
"url": "https://syncmydevice.com?token=ee889ef9d7fb7a9644c97ef9d69ZSAMPLEa0be23352bdee46a775c066ef0f890"
},
"mobile": {
"token": "7c001f84255SAMPLE8c168ba563035"
},
"sources": [],
"created_at": "2023-07-06T21:19:08Z",
"updated_at": "2023-07-06T21:19:08Z"
}
Establish User Device Connection via Direct Connection API
Sample Request
Content-Type: application/json
POST https://syncmydevice.com/direct/auth/biotel_care/connect?telserve_id=:TELSERVEID&uid=:UID&token=:TOKEN
Where:
:telserveID is the user’s TelServe ID (see Note 1 below)
:UID is the user’s UID (see Note 2 below)
:Token is the user’s marketplace token
Note:
The TelServe ID must match the user’s identifier as provided by Philips BioTel Care to the client
UID must match the client’s user identifier for the user in Inform
Example Request
POST 'https://syncmydevice.com/direct/auth/biotel_care/connect?token=f3adf3215170c54f5ab9e9a16b47&telserve_id=12345&uid=CLIENTUSER123'
Sample Response
201 Created
{"access_token": "50ea10495ce481bf135c4bb","validic_user_id": "65bc18964ff6e3","expires": false,"created_at": "2023-02-01T22:19:30Z","telserve_id": 12345 }
When enabled for your organization, Philips BioTel Care also appears in your Validic Inform Marketplace. If users connect via the marketplace, they will be routed to a screen to enter their log-in credentials for Philips BioTel Care, which would also connect them to Philips BioTel Care if entered properly.
If you want to prevent users from seeing Philips BioTel Care as an option in the marketplace you’ll want to either avoid routing the user to the marketplace or hide the Philips BioTel Care (biotel_care) source from your user’s view using the Custom Marketplace.
Disconnect User via Direct Connection API
Disconnecting the user from Philips BioTel Care can be done via a simple JSON API call.
Disconnect from Source
Sample Request
GET https://syncmydevice.com/direct/auth/biotel_care/disconnect?token=:TOKEN
Where:
:TOKEN is the user’s marketplace token
Example Request
GET 'https://syncmydevice.com/direct/auth/biotel_care/disconnect?token=02f0c59b63310f7cec951aSAMPLEdd15481ec1dfd5f7e1f6927'
Sample Response
{ "id": "65bc18f24ff6e30011a1faa3", "type": "biotel_care", "profile": null, "credentials": { "token": "f3adf3215170c54f5ab9e9a16b47", "uid": "biotel_care_test", "telserve_id": 12345 }, "source": { "id": "603e6SAMPLE4e", "organization_id": "59ba7cdafSAMPLEc29216", "type": "biotel_care", "disabled": false, "callback_override": null, "credentials": {} }, "user": { "id": "65bc18964ff6e3", "uid": "CLIENTUSER123", "marketplace_token": "f3adf3215170c54f5ab9e9a16b47", "mobile": { "token": "b681094f0SAMPLE231a3b504acbf" }, "location": { "timezone": null, "country_code": null }, "organization": { "id": "59ba7cdafSAMPLEc29216" }, "status": "active", "created_at": "2023-02-01T22:17:58Z", "updated_at": "2024-01-01T08:10:00Z", "deleted_at": null, "timezone": null }, "created_at": "2023-02-01T22:19:30Z", "updated_at": "2024-01-01T08:10:00Z", "deleted_at": "2024-01-01T08:10:00Z", "deleted_by": "marketplace", "deleted_reason": "User disconnected from Direct Endpoint" }
Philips BioTel Care Data
The Philips BioTel Care Inform integration has the source ‘type’: biotel_care
The Philips BioTel Care Inform integration supports the data metrics defined on the Standard Metrics Used Per App page (see “BioTel Care” app).
Sample Data
The below example illustrates a single blood glucose measurement using the Philips BioTel Care Cellular Glucose Meter. This sample shows how these readings appear in the Validic Inform Streaming API and REST API.
{
"checksum": "b0a2547d56SAMPLE5d57437a90b",
"created_at": "2023-10-10T17:20:04.858Z",
"deleted_at": null,
"end_time": "2023-10-10T15:58:56Z",
"id": "3de314260ccSAMPLE69c5bae6547f1",
"log_id": "500000046950878",
"metrics": [
{
"type": "blood_glucose",
"origin": "device",
"unit": "mg/dL",
"value": 99.0
}
],
"offset_origin": "source",
"source": {
"type": "biotel_care",
"device": {
"id": null,
"model": "biotelcare_glucometer",
"manufacturer": "biotel care",
"diagnostics": []
}
},
"start_time": "2023-10-10T15:58:56Z",
"tags": [],
"type": "measurement",
"user": {
"organization_id": "5ef0ef69SAMPLEba562",
"user_id": "652572SAMPLEe18b8b8",
"uid": "12345"
},
"user_notes": [],
"utc_offset": -14400,
"version": "1.0"
}
Details on using the Inform Streaming API and REST APIs can be found in our online technical documentation.