Durham, North Carolina-based health data company Validic has partnered with electronic health records vendor Cerner in a deal that will allow healthcare providers using the Cerner EHR to enable patients to import clinical, fitness, wellness and nutritional data from consumer devices into their records via the patient portal.
Validic told MobiHealthNews in an email that it is working with a number of other large EHR vendors as well, but it was not able to disclose them at this time.
“Cerner is committed to working with our clients to create a future where the health care system works to improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities," Brian Carter, senior director and general manager of personal health at Cerner, said in a statement. "To be successful, it is critical to provide access to actionable data on a regular basis, not just what’s collected when someone goes to the doctor."
Patients whose providers use Cerner can upload data from any Validic-supported device into their HealtheLife patient portal. From there, they will be able to opt in to send that information into their electronic health record. Doctors and nurses, and individual hospitals, can decide what to do with that data.
Validic works with hospitals and healthcare providers to help them integrate data streams from many different apps and devices into one secure, easy-to-interact with pipe. This includes consumer devices like those made by Fitbit and Jawbone, sports devices like those from Polar and Garmin, and, increasingly, medical devices — anything that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth.
“On the hospital level there are major challenges to integrate all these different devices, and yet it’s what needs to happen in order to take our healthcare system into the future,” CEO Ryan Beckland told MobiHealthNews last fall. “When Validic comes along, we say ‘Look, you don’t have to worry about building all these integrations’ it’s like a load off their mind. It’s the solution everybody was looking for but nobody knew what they were looking for.”
MobiHealthNews has chronicled in multiple in-depth reports that the tide seems to finally be turning toward patient-generated data in healthcare. The trend has picked up speed recently with Apple HealthKit and its integration with EHR vendors like Epic and Cerner. One advantage for Cerner in working with Validic, however, is that patients will be able to upload device data whether they have Android or iOS devices. Additionally, Validic is a HIPAA-compliant platform that connects both consumer and clinical devices.
“In working with Cerner, Validic bridges the data gap among its health care stakeholders and the clinical devices, fitness wearables, and patient applications they need to provide actionable insights and in-depth patient engagement," Beckland said in a statement. "Working with a leader like Cerner, we are able to help deliver its connected health strategies into the hands of clients, and help fuel the exciting industry transformation to more accountable, value-based health care delivery."
