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A big part of the CONVERGE panel on de-siloing data and collaboration in healthcare looked at some of the potential challenges that the Health Care Innovation Collaborative would crowdsource. The Collaborative has yet to articulate those challenges. But in a discussion about the Health Information Exchange started in the Philadelphia region last year, the subject of de-siloing data and transmitting patient records via the exchange drew some concern about what, if any, control people would have to limit who sees their records.
Among the members of the collaborative announced earlier this year are:
Safeguard Scientifics, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Independence Blue Cross, Drexel University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Health System and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Comcast.
It’s kind of an interesting response because the idea of multiple providers getting easy access to patient records is widely seen as improving healthcare either by avoiding duplicating tests needlessly, preventing adverse events or using the data to spot warning signs of deteriorating health and spark early intervention before hospitalization is required for high risk patients.
It sparked the surprising idea that a new business model might emerge in which people pay more to prevent access to their EMR data. New York eHealth Collaborative contracted with a health IT vendor to set up a patient portal in which users could opt to prevent former providers and payers from accessing their electronic health record.
Additionally, Comcast Vice President of Strategic Development Marc Siry offered some entertaining insights as the only non healthcare oriented company (aside from its investment arm Comcast Ventures) in the Collaborative, especially when he drew a comparison to cable and health insurance.
“Tom Olenzak (managing director of the strategic innovation portfolio at Independence Blue Cross) and I both come from companies that offer expensive, complicated products that everybody hates paying for but complain when they don’t work.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
He also noted with mock horror the concern some had over the cable company’s desire to participate in a healthcare initiative. He said that most people trust the company with the bank data but the moment it said it would be working on a healthcare project, it was like…(at which point he paused and drew up his arms in front of his face and imitated a vampire) and hissed “HIPAA! HIPAA!”
Maybe someone should tell him that data from patient medical records is seen as more valuable than credit card information and bank data. Still, it will be intriguing to see the what kind of impact the cable company will have on the Collaborative, how they work with the startups picked to participate and how the pilot shakes out.
