What it does
Orbital Lite STS is a security token service (STS) that sits between your EHR and external web applications such as an HIE clinical viewer. When a clinician clicks the HIE link inside the patient's chart, Orbital Lite STS takes the identity they already signed in with, adds the identifier of the patient they are looking at, and sends both to the HIE in a signed SAML assertion. The HIE viewer opens on that patient's record, with no second login and no patient search.
Why it matters
HIE data only helps if clinicians look at it. When looking means leaving the EHR, signing in to a separate portal and searching for the patient again, most clinicians stop bothering. In-context launch turns the HIE into one click from the chart. Large health systems often get this from their EHR vendor; many community hospitals and clinics do not, and do not have an identity team to build it themselves. That is the gap Orbital Lite STS fills.
Where it came from
Orbital Lite STS was first built around 2018–2019 to connect smaller providers to Quality Health Network in Colorado, and has since been deployed at community hospitals and clinics in the United States and at health networks in Canada.
Who is behind it
Radius Works is led by Luis de Barros, a healthcare identity and security architect who designed the ConnectingGTA STS used by hospitals across Ontario and contributed to Ontario's provincial specifications for single sign-on with patient context. He has held senior technical and security leadership roles at TELUS Health, University Health Network and Smile Digital Health, and holds the CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CCSP and CIPP/US certifications.