2.22.11 | Brandon Glenn

Cleveland Clinic-MedStar deal pays off for Explorys

Medical data management company Explorys is already benefiting from a deal reached last month by Cleveland Clinic and Maryland health system MedStar Health.

Cleveland-based Explorys, a Cleveland Clinic spinoff company, said MedStar has become the fifth healthcare provider to join its network, and first outside of Ohio, according to a statement.

Explorys acts as a repository and cleanser of data coming from many different clinics, hospitals, doctors offices and researchers, putting all the data into a central research database. The idea is that healthcare organizations can mine that electronic medical records data to look for trends that could lead to improvements in patient safety and clinical effectiveness.

“The implications for research across our organization are enormous,” said Neil Weissman, president of MedStar’s research institute.

Last month, the Clinic reached a deal in which it will help MedStar doctors turn ideas for medical inventions into products that bring money back to the hospital. The hospitals said at the time that it was the first deal of its kind between two major U.S. health systems.

The other members of Explorys’ network are Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and MetroHealth System in Cleveland, and Summa Health System in Akron.