OpenEvidence Reference Architecture
Overview
Production architecture for clinical decision support integrations with OpenEvidence. Designed for healthcare platforms needing evidence-based query processing, citation-backed clinical answers, and full audit logging for regulatory compliance. Key design drivers: HIPAA-compliant data handling, deterministic citation pipelines for clinical accuracy, query audit trails for malpractice risk mitigation, and sub-second response times for point-of-care workflows where clinicians need answers during patient encounters.
Architecture Diagram
Clinician UI ──→ API Gateway (auth + HIPAA) ──→ Query Service ──→ OpenEvidence API
↓ ↓ /query
Audit Logger ──→ Audit DB Cache (Redis) /citations
↓ ↓
Analytics ──→ Usage Dashboard Citation Store ──→ Evidence DB
Service Layer
class ClinicalQueryService {
constructor(private oe: OpenEvidenceClient, private cache: CacheLayer, private audit: AuditLogger) {}
async queryEvidence(query: ClinicalQuery): Promise<EvidenceResponse> {
await this.audit.log({ type: 'query_submitted', clinicianId: query.clinicianId, queryText: query.text, timestamp: new Date() });
const cacheKey = `evidence:${this.hashQuery(query.text)}`;
const cached = await this.cache.get(cacheKey);
if (cached) { await this.audit.log({ type: 'cache_hit', cacheKey }); return cached; }
const response = await this.oe.query(query.text, { specialty: query.specialty });
await this.storeCitations(response.citations);
await this.cache.set(cacheKey, response, CACHE_CONFIG.evidence.ttl);
await this.audit.log({ type: 'query_completed', citationCount: response.citations.length });
return response;
}
async getCitationChain(citationId: string): Promise<Citation[]> {
return this.evidenceDb.getCitationWithReferences(citationId);
}
}
