DETROIT, Mich., June 4, 2019 – Health information technology leaders from across the state gathered at the MotorCity Casino in Detroit for the 2019 Connectathon, hosted by Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN). The Connectathon brought together individuals who serve in technical and non-technical roles to create new, innovative solutions to healthcare interoperability using open application program interfaces and patterns that work in other industries such as finance.
The 36-hour event, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Cloudticity, Augusto and Yodlee, encouraged attendees to blend their collective knowledge of healthcare data exchange with technical knowhow, collaborate on open business models, digital identify proofing, block chain and was the first public introduction of Interoperability Land™ (IOL).
IOL is a shared digital platform designed to power the future of advanced interoperability testing and development between organizations and systems using realistic synthetic healthcare data. Using IOL’s highly automated and cost optimized Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure, each team participating in the event was granted access to their own on demand IOL test environment for the duration of the event. Each team’s IOL test environment was populated with a synthetic healthcare network comprised of eleven Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) servers that mimic real world healthcare organizations like doctor’s offices, health plans, hospitals, pharmacies and specialty clinics. With IOL, Connectathon participants were able to create and manage their own test environments that were used to power their solution prototypes. The innovative solutions created by event participants include:
- Silver Sparrow is a patient-centered application that creates a 360-degree view of a patient’s healthcare, expenses and challenges. Silver Sparrow puts the patient in charge of their healthcare by marrying clinical, claims and financial data to empower patients to make more informed healthcare related decisions;
- TurnKey is a biometric powered patient registration and passwordless authentication solution designed to ease the process of accessing personal health data across the healthcare ecosystem. TurnKey uses patient data captured from a valid U.S. issued identification card, facial recognition, a MiHIN Common Key and master patient index (MPI) technology to securely register a patient, validate their identity and link them to healthcare records across the healthcare ecosystem, without requiring the patient to create a password;
- EZ Schedule is a patient-centered application that enables patients to find and schedule their own appointments with provider(s), 24/7, 365 days a year. This application, targeted to millennials, enables members to schedule their own doctor appointments without having to pick up the phone. EZ Schedule puts the patient in charge of appointment scheduling, reduces phone calls to the provider office and enables providers to verify insurance coverage prior to a patient visit;
- Patient First is a provider facing application that helps providers deliver higher quality value-based care by calculating three critical scores – an adverse childhood experiences score, a social determinates of health score, and a clinical risk score. Patient First uses these risk scores to create a more holistic view of a patient, improve care quality and reduce cost associated with the duplication of services;
- FinCare is a patient-centered application that empowers patients to make more informed and cost-effective healthcare decisions by blending personal finance and healthcare data. FinCare gives the patient a clear understanding of the costs associated with various healthcare treatment options as well as how treatment options impact their personal financial situation. With FinCare, patients can select the treatment option that works best for them;
- Readmissions on FHIR allows organizations to view the true cost of readmission by analyzing data related to specific conditions that trigger high readmissions rates. Readmissions on FHIR helps providers reduce costs associated with readmissions and inform better policy making by providing a clear view of the drivers of high readmission rates;
- PPC makes it easier for providers, payers and patients to share sensitive health related information electronically by creating a single provider contact information and patient consent management tool. PPC improves patient satisfaction by making it easy for patients to stay in contact with their provider, enables providers to spend more time with their patients and reduces the occurrence of involuntary HIPAA violations; and
- Interop is a patient managed medical chart that uses block chain technology, biometric digital identity proofing solutions, MiHIN’s Active Care Relationship Service® (ACRS®) and master patient index (MPI) technology to empower patients to aggregate and share their medical records with their healthcare providers based on their preferences. Interop allows the patient to be the single source of truth for their own healthcare data, reduces errors related to data inconsistencies and gives providers involved with a patient care greater access to the patients’ healthcare related information.
Attendees voted via text to declare a winner. The final vote came down to three teams and two tie breakers. Third place was awarded to Readmissions on FHIR, whose team members took home Yeti tumblers donated by Augusto. Second place was awarded to FinCare, whose team members took home Amazon Dot Echo’s. First place was awarded to Silver Sparrow, whose team members took home Apple Watch’s, donated by Cloudticity.
“I was impressed how well InteroperabilityLand could be integrated with technology outside of healthcare. I think the event demonstrated how HL7 FHIR and solutions like blockchain digital ledger systems and identity solutions from other industries can be used to solve problems healthcare continues to struggle with,” said Dr. Tim Pletcher, Executive Director, MiHIN. “What the entire event gave us was a clear glimpse into what the near future will bring. Very exciting!
What 2019 Connectathon attendees said:
“Wow, the Connection was so much fun. I was surprised by how quickly teams came together with great ideas and InteroperabilityLand made it easy to go from concept to demo in less than a day! A great experience that I would do again,” said Mark Gidman, CTO of Juxly.
“Connectathon 2019 certainly stretched my expertise as a family physician working in a rural community health center. It was great to work with so many talented people,” said Kathleen Dunckel with Alcona Health Center.
“This year’s Connectathon was a great progression forward for MiHIN. The format and underlying infrastructure enabled teams to get started quickly and produce some awesome projects. The interaction between the healthcare and the finance industry helped to produce some unique ideas between the two industries,” said Paul Harmon, Software Development Manager at MiHIN.
“The event was a wonderful experience for me. I met this team of bright individuals and learned something new over a period of two days! MiHIN and the sponsors put up a great event,” said Prabha Bhat, Analyst/Programmer of Michigan Medicine.
“The event was very well-organized, and I gained a lot of innovative ideas to improve our existing IT strategy. The teams who participated in the event were highly competent,” said Uma Ganapathy, Director of HealthCare Analytics of Trusted Health Plan.
About Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services
The Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) is Michigan’s state-designated entity to improve healthcare quality, efficiency, and patient safety by sharing electronic health information statewide, helping reduce costs for patients, providers, and payers. MiHIN is a nonprofit, public-private collaboration that includes stakeholders from the State of Michigan, Health Information Exchanges serving Michigan, health systems and providers, health plans/payers, pharmacies, and the Governor’s Health Information Technology Commission. For more information, visit https://mihin.org.
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For additional information, contact:
Alyssa Jones
Public Relations Manager
Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services
269-832-8353
alyssa.jones@mihin.org