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health IT

portal

Platform Terminology Explains Why Today’s Patient Portals CAN NOT Work

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Patient Portal #FAIL

“…the patient portal, as currently architected, is a complete dead-end.”

John Moore, Founder and Managing Partner, Chilmark Research

Patient portals have tremendous potential — but that potential has not been realized and *CAN NOT* be realized as portals are currently configured.

An understanding of platform business models and strategy explains why today’s patient portals are inherently suboptimal.

This essay is the first in an occasional series that will look at patient portals through the lenses of platform business models and strategy. Today’s post will introduce and explain platform terminology of multihoming and single homing. Future posts will look more deeply into “why” current patient portals can’t work and will propose options for portals that could work for patients.

Briefly Characterizing Today’s Patient Portals

health-data-unbound-home-1200x500

The Business Case for Health Data Sharing

Day-by-day, the business case for data sharing is growing stronger. In this essay, I’ll describe how COVID-19 is accelerating existing healthcare trends, how data sharing is becoming a key business strategy, and how you can learn more about these developments.

COVID-19 Accelerates Existing Trends

This might surprise you — one result of COVID-19 isn’t so much a new normal as it is the acceleration of pre-existing trends. Andreasen Horowitz venture capitalist Julie Yoo wrote about this in her masterful article: Healthcare: The Great Unlock.

She lists […]

conf-website

Health Data Unbound Virtual Conference

While there have been many events on interoperability and data sharing, what’s unique here is our focus on the BUSINESS rationale for health data sharing.

goldilocks + porridge

Protecting Health Data Outside of HIPAA: Will the Protecting Personal Health Data Act Tame the Wild West ?

Congress is seriously considering bipartisan legislation — the “Protecting Personal Health Data Act” — to better protect the privacy of consumers’ personal data.

goldilocks + porridge

Health Data Outside HIPAA: The Wild West of Unprotected Personal Data

The average patient will, in his or her lifetime, generate about 2,750 times more data related to social and environmental influences than to clinical factors.

thcb

New Series on THCB — The Health Data Goldilocks Dilemma: Privacy? Sharing? Both?

The Goldilocks Dilemma has U.S. policymakers driving toward two seemingly conflicting goals:
1) Broader data interoperability and data sharing, and
2) Enhanced data privacy and data protection.

home run

ONC Report on Health Information Blocking: A Solid Double, But NOT a Home Run

A Stand Up Double

By Vince Kuraitis JD, MBA and David C. Kibbe MD, MBA

Last Friday ONC (the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT) released a long-awaited Report On Health Information Blocking. The ONC blog capsulizes the report:

Health information blocking occurs when persons or entities knowingly and unreasonably interfere with the exchange or use of electronic health information. Our report examines the known extent of information blocking, provides criteria for identifying and distinguishing it from other barriers […]

Will ACO IT Models Be Walled Gardens or Open Platforms?

Will ACO (accountable care organization) IT models be walled gardens or open platforms?  i.e., will ACO IT platforms focus on exchanging information within the provider network of the ACO, or will they also be able to exchange information with providers outside the ACO network? (If the question still isn’t clear, click here for a further explanation.).

Summarizing Early PCAST HIT Critiques: “Brilliant, but they didn’t do all their technical homework.”

Last week PCAST (The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology) issued a major report — “Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans: The Path Forward”. 

The reviews are filtering in and I’m seeing two major themes: 

The vision is on target:  “extraordinary”, “breathtakingly innovative”.
These guys didn’t do all their technical homework. The range varies, but the message is consistent. 

Here are some early critiques of the PCAST report. Let the debate continue!

Walled Gardens vs. the Open Web: A Central Debate in Tech Finally Coming to Healthcare

The September issue of Wired magazine and an article in last Sunday’s New York Times illustrate a central debate in technology circles. The debate is not new — it’s being going on for two decades — but it has newfound vibrancy. The essence of the debate is about competing tech/business models: walled gardens vs. the open world wide web (web).

 

vs.

 

The debate is highly controversial and nuanced. There are “experts” on both sides.

My point today is not to take sides […]