The Flint Michigan water contamination scandal could have gone years undetected if it weren't for EPIC electronic health records and analytics that together flagged elevated lead levels in local children.
This is just one example of the unbounded potential technology and innovation will continue to have on healthcare and population health. I recently sat down with Wes Wright, CTO of Sutter Health, a leading not-for-profit healthcare network serving 3 million patients in more than 100 Northern California communities. No stranger to innovation, Wright talks about the new direction and opportunities within healthcare.
With electronic health records (EHRs), a key foundation for digitizing health information, now reaching record proportions, technology adoption continues to accelerate.
"Because of what we can do in IT, healthcare will dramatically change," Wright explains. "There is enormous potential to look to other industries that have revolutionized their business models and processes based on big data intelligence and healthcare is just on that forefront."
Wright focused the conversation around three innovative concepts:
• First, creating secure, non-PHI (personal health information) open source platforms so that innovators and start-ups can more easily collaborate with Sutter Health;
• Second, co-mingling data from various internal and external sources and leveraging sophisticated compute cycles in the cloud to turn big data into actionable intelligence and
• Lastly, how to use that information so it enhances engagement between patients and clinicians all the while keeping that information protected.
Empowering Innovators and Embracing Open Source Concepts
From disease fighting nanobots in our blood to 3D printed organs, there are some mind-bending happenings in healthcare. Thought-leading healthcare providers like Sutter Health recognize that partnering with savvy start-ups and innovators can help propel them collectively to new levels of personalizing patient interaction, improving quality outcomes and streamlining operations.
But Wright asserts, "Healthcare organizations are typically complex, which can create challenges for smaller partners to collaborate." As a result, Sutter Health's leadership is "creating a platform for innovators where they can add applications and widgets so that they do not have to build from the ground up to connect to [Sutter], providing a platform that allows partners to securely connect to the right part of Sutter infrastructure without compromising any personal health data."
With Sutter recognizing the value that outside innovation can bring and creating platforms that foster collaboration they and their millions of patients will undoubtedly benefit.
Painting a clearer picture with more holistic data sets
Behavioral patterns such as poor eating and physical inactivity are the largest determinant of ill health and early demise. We know that socioeconomic factors, healthcare education and access to care are other major determinants of one's health but we cannot quantify the impact or predict the outcome. We also know that 5 percent of patients drive 49 percent of healthcare costs.
"What's missing in this equation is the data behind the situational factors, the soft data that was once hard to quantify but is becoming much more accessible thanks to IoT devices and machine-to-machine learning," Wright explains. "With access to highly sophisticated pay-for-play compute cycles in the cloud there is enormous potential to co-mingle clinical, population and situational data to form actionable intelligence about our health and our patient populations."
Sutter is looking to create more holistic and homogeneous data pools while ramping up its secure direct cloud connectivity solutions. With these solutions, Sutter can improve patient outcomes both on the clinical side and by empowering patients to address the many situational factors impacting their health.
Mobilizing Intelligence to Patients and Clinicians Real Time
Frost & Sullivan's 2016 survey on Consumer's Culture of Health concluded that 75 percent of people would want or are currently using EHRs to keep track of health information. They also concluded that 63 percent of consumers would want or currently use mobile apps or wearables to track wellness and fitness. Wall Street Journal reported last year that wearable sensors include necklaces that can monitor your heart function and check the amount of fluid in your lungs, contact lenses that can track your glucose levels or your eye pressure (to help manage glaucoma) and head bands that can capture your brain waves.
Wright suggests, "Iteration is our friend; Sutter understands the capability that wearables and big data intelligence can bring and continues to work with partners to bring more tools to support and empower their patients while keeping a keen eye on protecting sensitive health information."
The digitization of health information coupled with access to sophisticated compute cycles, analytics and IoT devices is phenomenally exciting. When these technologies are paired with visionary leadership, we are set to see exciting transformation in the space.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.