Health IT firm Explorys adds California health system to network

Health data management company Explorys has added a California health system with about a dozen hospitals to its electronic medical records-sharing network.

Orange, California-based St. Joseph Health Systembecomes the sixth hospital or health system to add its patient records to Explorys’s network.

Cleveland-based Explorys acts as a repository and cleanserof data that comes from many different heatlh providers and puts 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 more data Explorys adds, the more valuable its network will become so the company needs to continue expanding aggressively. The company recently raised an $11.5 million series C round of investment to do just that.

In addition to adding data from St. Joseph’s dozen or so hospitals — most of which are in California — the new client helps expand Explorys’s geographic reach to the West Coast. Other members of the network are Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Summa Health System in Akron and MedStar Health in Maryland.

Explorys was formed in 2009 on technology developed by Cleveland Clinic, which holds equity in the company.