Healthy Data

In healthcare IT, data silos are well-known foes. Talk of “breaking them down” permeates most health IT conferences, and for good reason: These silos stand between our present reality and the future promise of more informed, efficient, and personalized healthcare delivery.

But there is a lesser-known type of silo that, until recently, has largely crept below the radar—the silo that isolates a patient’s desire to have a say in their care journey from their physician’s determination of what’s best for that patient. Often these two forces don’t align. At worst, they completely neglect to take one another into account.

The drive to break down this silo and embed consent, connectivity and clinical context into the patient-physician relationship is at the core of Coordinate My Care, a UK-based service that’s part of the National Health Service’s (NHS) Innovation Accelerator program. The service helps

inform physicians of their patients’ desires, so they can make bespoke treatment recommendations that honor each patient's self-sovereignty.

In this episode of InterSystems PULSEcast, we speak with Professor Julia Riley, consultant in palliative medicine and clinical lead for Coordinate My Care, to discover why connected patient plans are such an urgent need, how to bring them to life while minimizing cultural pushback, and how the patient-physician relationship stands to benefit.

Jim Collins uses artificial intelligence (AI) to explore beyond the limits of what was once thought possible. The former Rhodes Scholar and MacArthur Fellow (or MacArthur Genius, as you may know it) runs a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) lab whose goal is to combat increasing antibiotic resistance through new drug discovery. His work in synthetic biology, meanwhile, focuses on rewiring tiny organisms so that they can identify and even help treat infection.

It’s all possible only because of AI, which Collins leverages to analyze the billions of data points required to push these boundaries. But Collins knows that AI is not magical, nor is it a silver bullet. Beyond the hype we can see that it’s no more or less than a high-tech tool. As such, it takes time, expertise and smart partnerships to integrate into a business and realize its potential.

In this episode, Collins details the evolution of AI in healthcare and how the technology could advance biomedicine, as well as how those looking to leverage AI in healthcare can avoid common pitfalls, forge the right partnerships and take a thoughtful approach to implementation.

Google Maps is useful because it’s driven by an incredible trove of quality data that empowers us to see the world from different perspectives—a humble orb floating across the galaxy or a sandwich shop down the street. 

What if healthcare had such a trove of data? Clean data that,

instead of being holed up in silos, flowed like a river across the industry?

Many experts believe that if this was the case, we could zoom out to build big-picture maps of chronic disease hotspots (and more efficiently conduct the work needed to curtail such problems) and zoom in to the individual patient, who could benefit from our improved understanding of family history, social determinants of health and other distinct factors.

Is this an idealistic, far-fetched idea? Not quite. Dozens of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) across the country are working toward this noble goal right now. Angie Bass, president and CEO of the Missouri Health Connection, a midwestern HIE, is looking to leverage the data in her network to help her partners provide better care. 

Tune into this episode to learn more about the strategies Bass uses to manage the constant evolution HIEs must endure, what specific steps she plans to take to achieve her lofty goals, and how she ensures her network harnesses the cleanest data available as a fuel source to propel the healthcare industry forward.

Data is everywhere and capturing it has never been simpler or more cost-effective. But as data collection becomes more widely accessible, the process of parsing it into actionable insights represents a distinct challenge—and a huge opportunity.

In this episode of InterSystems PULSEcast, David Menninger, an analyst at Ventana Research who has led data projects for more than 25 years, unveils best practices for harnessing the power of real-time data, IoT, artificial intelligence and more. Tune in to join the journey from data collection to extracted insights and everything between. 

Decentralization means healthcare is changing in an unprecedented way—it’s moving outside the hospital walls. Tune into this episode of InterSystems PULSEcast to hear Kathleen Aller, head of healthcare market strategy at InterSystems, discuss the ideas behind the decentralization of care, explore what it means for enterprising healthcare organizations, and spotlight strategies that can help you use this incredible moment to your advantage. 

John Halamka is preparing for a forthcoming sea change in the way we extract value from health information: the decentralization of data. 

Tune in to discover which new data sources you should be keeping an eye on, how to cut through the hype and identify the sources that bring the greatest tangible value, who needs to be at the table when putting together a successful data strategy, and so much more.