Aneesh Chopra, who previously served as Virginia’s secretary of technology, was tapped as the first chief technology officer of the United States in 2009. He held the position until 2012, but he hasn’t slowed down since then.
He ran for lieutenant governor of Virginia but was defeated by Ralph Northam in 2013. After that, Chopra co-founded Hunch Analytics, an incubator focused on leveraging big data and analytics to aid providers and consumers. Additionally, he is currently the president of CareJourney, an open data service company launched by Hunch.
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Throughout the course of his career, Chopra has zeroed in on the significance of collaboration between the public and private sectors. Not only does he highlight this idea in his book Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government, but he will also discuss the topic at the upcoming MANOVA Summit taking place in Minneapolis on October 8-10. MedCity’s own INVEST Twin Cities conference is on October 11.
In a phone interview, Chopra weighed in on public-private teamwork, data sharing and his advice to healthcare innovators.
This exchange has been lightly edited.
MedCity: What prompted you to co-found Hunch Analytics?
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Chopra: I served as U.S. CTO and focused my role of healthcare delivery reform on three areas: opening up more data for commercial use, embracing internet-based interoperability standards and championing payment models that would reward particular programs that have demonstrated effectiveness at treating segments of the population.
The idea behind Hunch Analytics was following my role as CTO and my loss in the race for lieutenant governor of Virginia. Key supporters of mine recruited me to invest in companies that were operating in the spirit of public-private collaboration.
We’ve made four investments over the years. The one that’s received the most commercial traction is CareJourney.
MedCity: Speaking of CareJourney, how is it leveraging analytics to improve population health?
Chopra: The mission is that every patient gets the care they deserve at the right place at the right time at the right price. That requires access to information about the patient. What is the patient eligible for with respect to insurance benefits? What are the research recommendations the patient would benefit from?
In order to do that, you need three things. First is to understand the patient’s history. Second, you need access to research and evidence. Third, you want a motivated partner.
We’ve chosen to work with programs called accountable care organizations that have a financial incentive to help connect patients to the right care. We become a data services provider to those accountable care organizations that are looking to … help patients better navigate the healthcare delivery system.
MedCity: Why should the public and private sectors collaborate when it comes to technology and innovation?
Chopra: I would make three observations.
Increasingly, we are seeing the digital economy grow exponentially. That sector will be the engine of job creation. It’s an industry that’s thriving.
Normally, investments in technology result in improved productivity. Healthcare is among the few sectors where more investments in technology have resulted in less productivity. It’s gone in the wrong direction. We have not fully benefitted from today’s internet technology in healthcare and that’s changing.
Our emerging public policy playbook is to embrace transparency in a bipartisan way. Both parties agree that we should release the information to consumers. The net result is better healthcare for people around the world.
MedCity: How can the healthcare industry make seamless data sharing a reality?
Chopra: There’s a cultural shift, a technical shift and a financial shift all converging on a moment in time.
On the cultural shift, it is the notion that among all healthcare stakeholders, the one unequivocal right is that the consumer can access their healthcare information. Now we are realizing culturally it’s best to engage consumers in helping them organize their health information because they have the right to do so.
On the technical side, healthcare is actually many, many microeconomies where each individual doctor’s office has its own IT system. Each hospital has its own IT system. We’ve got a very difficult task ahead of us … to get all the health IT systems to speak a common language. Thankfully, it appears as if the industry is converging on the FHIR API.
Regarding the financial incentive, in the old fee-for-service model, there was no need to collaborate. In today’s value-based model, the minimum requirement is to collaborate.
MedCity: What advice do you have for innovators in the health IT space?
Chopra: I would hug a provider who’s moving faster to value-based care. By embracing the early adopters and understanding their need, they would, as Wayne Gretzky said, be skating to where the puck is going and not where it is today.
Photo: ipopba, Getty Images
