Connecting for Health: Another wave in the shift to consumer controlled health information

The recent announcement of the Common Framework for Networked Personal Health Information by the Connecting for Health collaboration lead by the Markle Foundation is just the next wave in what may be a tidal shift. The tidal shift is one centered on the input, control, ownership, and administration of health information that results from the active and real use of PHRs by consumers.

Those participating in and endorsing the Connecting for Health initiative are a diverse group of health care and technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Intuit, WebMD, Dossia, BlueCross BlueShield, AARP, AAFP, SureScripts and others.

Whether or not the wave is large enough or just one of many more to come is yet to be determined. The ocean of health information and health information exchange is so fluid these days as we undergo major projects surrounding health information technology at the national level, state level, by HIEs, private industy, etc. For health lawyers - it is a field day for spotting regulatory legal issues and implications. Some of the real life factual scenarios we have been going through as a result of work related to the West Virginia Health Information Network and the NIH2 project remind me of law school exams.

For more insight on the Connecting for Health collaborative check out thoughts by other health care lawyers: Jeff Drummond who talks about the provider "betamax" and "culture fears, David Harlow who raises good questions and applauds the effort to gain public trust. He also looks at whether the recent PHR developments might obviate the need for local HIE infrastructure (with follow up commentary from Micky Tripathi at MAeHC Blog).

Also, Matthew Holt looks at the important health vs. wealth issue underlying the effort and the (non)involvement of the EMR vendors in the process. Jen McCabe Gorman at Health Management Rx makes predications of a possible PHR health app war focused on creating strategic affiliations with health care businesses in an effort to gain market share in the consumer focused PHR space.

Check out the latest developments with a Google News search: "connecting for health".

For another "wave" on the tidal shifting consumer health front from a guy who knows waves - check out Scott Shreeve, M.D.'s post, "Cease and Desist? How about Understand and Resist," at Crossver Health. Scott's post breaks down the issues involved in the attempt by the California and New York Departments of Health to prevent consumers from accessing their own genetic information. More from Matthew Holt.

Another example not unlike the PHR issue, where the current health regulatory structure is not evolving quick enough to satisfy the needs of the consumer focused health technology startups. In this case the consumer focused genetic health 2.0 companies. As Scott ends with, ". . . One intractable issue. Millions of dollars at stake. Tens of millions of people watching. Vegas odds, anyone?"

Microsoft Healthvault Be Well Fund Increased

The Microsoft's HealthVault Be Well Fund has decided to increase the aware funding from $3M to $4.5M after receiving almost 200 proposals from academic and research health organizations from across the United States.

I'm interested to see the variety/type of proposals submitted and selected. What type of creative approaches and disruptive improvements might come out of the process and built on the HealthVault backbone. right now it is difficult to conceptualize some of the uses of HealthVault and I hope that this effort to jumpstart solutions will help us all see how HealthVault might be used on a day to day basis.

For more about HealthVault, check out the HealthVault Developer Center and HealthVault.

According the press release the:

Proposals represent a wide range of innovative online solutions designed to address significant health issues including childhood obesity, medication reconciliation, mobile health information gathering and dissemination, and diabetes management, as well as to help people manage their health more effectively. Strong interest and participation in the request for proposals (RFP) has made it one of the most successful Microsoft Research RFPs in the company’s history.

Award recipients will be announced at the second annual Microsoft HealthVault Solutions Conference set for June 9-10. The judges for the awards a cross section oof health leaders, including:

• Adam Bosworth, CEO, Keas Inc.
• Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives; founder, Center for Health Transformation
• Mark Liponis, M.D., corporate medical director, Canyon Ranch
• Valerie Montgomery Rice, M.D., senior vice president for Health Affairs and dean, School of Medicine; professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meharry Medical College
• Leslie Norwalk, former acting administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; strategic advisor, Epstein Becker & Green P.C.
• Marc Pierson, M.D., regional vice president, Clinical Information and Special Projects, and regional vice president of Medical Affairs, PeaceHealth
• Brent Ridge, M.D., vice president, Healthy Living, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.

HealthVault: Adding Structure (Interoperability) to the Health Information Ecosystem

Last week (October 4) Microsoft rolled out a brand new vehicle that should help accelerate the growing consumer driven health care movement and creation of a national interoperable health information system. HealthVault is a new personal health record (PHR) platform that allows the user to gather, store and share health information online.

There has been a lot written about the roll out of HealthVault over the last week. I've read numerous articles and blog posts to try to get a better grasp of what it is (and what it is not). Over the weekend I ran across Vince Kuraitis' post at his e-CareManagement Blog which I found to have provided some good insight. Not until reading Kuraitis' post did I actually understand that HealthVault is not a PHR but a PHR platform.

In particular I like this quote by Kuraitis and his comparison of the pre-fax world:

" . . . this really isn’t about Microsoft vs. Google . . . It’s about creating a new business ecosystem based on the appropriate (honoring privacy and security) free flow of interoperable and transportable personal health information (PHI) — something that doesn’t exist today."

I'll throw out another comparison that I thought about as I read his post -- the natural gas transportation and storage industry. West Virginia is home to some large underground gas storage facilities. Basically, natural gas is pumped during off season to West Virginia from the Gulf Coast via large transmission lines or is gathered from small wells through gathering facilities and lines. The gas is then pumped and stored in previously depleted underground wells. In doing so, the natural gas can be stored safely and moved quickly to market in the northeast during the cold months.

HealthVault is setting out the same architecture, transportation and storage device for health information. The natural gas (health information) is very valuable and the system of moving it around is incredibly complex with multiple players and competitors. You have individuals and companies constantly adding natural gas (health information) to the system and end users who need natual gas (health information) at the opposite end. To date the health care industry does not have such a structured, standardized system of pipelines to protect and transport health information. We are largely still living in a paper world with systems that don't have the capability to talk to each other.

As I step back and take a look -- I see an industry in the midst of a tidal shift regarding the control of personal health information and maybe the bigger question of who wants (and can safely) control health information. Microsoft's HealthVault appears to be laying down more planks to create the platform for an interoperable system that will allow for health information to become more transportable, transparent and standardized. Ultimately, the question in my mind remains whether this will help to improve care and help each of us become better stewards of our own health?

Stay tune . . .