“Microsoft goes on making partners to support its task to create an online repository for patient information.”
A new healthcare partnership announced Monday between Microsoft, AT&T, and Compuware subsidiary Covisint, to set up an Internet-based information exchange between the companies’ e-health systems.
“The deal allows consumers who make use of Microsoft’s HealthVault to share their health data with their doctors.”
Consumers who utilize Microsoft HealthVault tools to enter and manage their personal health data via the Web can now share this information nationwide with physicians connected to the AT&T Healthcare Community Online data exchange.
The deal is also intended to promote the kind of remote health-monitoring that will increase data network traffic as well.
True to an analyst prediction, the healthcare sector keeps on to attract telecom providers’ interest. Back in February, AT&T and Covisint announced the launch of the health care data exchange that combines AT&T broadband access with Covisint’s OnDemand Health Platform, a hosted service that provides a VPN portal to physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers to share patients’ lab, pharmacy, X-ray, and other data.
This deal with Microsoft adds the newest piece to the exchange, providing consumers with the capability to access and enter their health data into the exchange.
Microsoft’s HealthVault acts as an online repository system for patient information; in which consumers can accumulate, store, manage, and share their personal health data via the Web. Also, patients have the power to choose what information they want to store in the vault and make available to physicians and health care providers.
The teaming up between Microsoft, AT&T, and Covisint allows HealthVault users to give their doctors’ permission to access this additional data over the Covisint/AT&T health exchange.
Thus, for example, if a diabetic consumer uses HealthVault’s tools to collect and store daily glucose readings, the consumer’s physician also can access that data with the patient’s consent, said Brett Frust, Covisint’s VP of health care.
The success of HealthVault relies upon third parties, such as hospitals and insurance companies, being willing to open up protocols to their own information systems to communicate and store information with the system. This requires Microsoft and those parties to develop relationships of trust.
The service amalgamates Covisint’s On-Demand Healthcare Platform over AT&T’s MPLS network and eHealth data exchange, along with Microsoft’s HealthVault platform that stores personal health information. AT&T, Covisint and Microsoft said the approach should lower costs and improve quality of care because it puts patients in control of their medical data.
The deal is akin to a pilot set up between Microsoft and Kaiser Permanente earlier this month to share data between HealthVault, Microsoft’s central repository for patient health records, and Kaiser’s My HealthManager e-records systems.
The new eHealth information exchange grew out of work AT&T did with the state of Tennessee for its eHealth initiative, and other work as well, said Diane Turcan, a nurse and former hospital CEO who is now director of health care marketing for AT&T.
Used on a extensive basis, this type of health care would be more preventative, eliminating the need for office visits or emergency room trips, thus making health care more affordable, Turcan said. By enabling the exchange of information among multiple doctors, the eHealth information exchange can help coordinate the care of older patients, with multiple doctors, or others with chronic illnesses.
While AT&T offers broadband access and a console for physicians to access health care information, Covisint provides the underlying software that vets patient information and makes it available to the Healthcare Community Online portal, said Furst.
Consumers can begin at any time by logging onto www.healthvault.com, Turcan said. AT&T and Microsoft will both be marketing the new service, and they are hoping patients and physicians alike will be drawn to it. AT&T’s commercial interest is in the data transport revenues these communications would drive, Turcan said.
“We would hope they [patients and physicians] would want to become members of the health care community online -– those services are available to members of the e-Health service that we offer,” Turcan said. “We are hoping more providers would see the value of this.”
Around two years back, Microsoft focused its efforts in health care on helping companies such as health-insurance providers and patients share information securely over the Web. Competitor Google also is piloting similar offerings.
Microsoft first revealed HealthVault in October as a beta release; the company anticipates HealthVault to go into full production release by the end of the year.
In addition to its partnerships with Kaiser and now AT&T and Covisint, Microsoft also is piloting data exchange for HealthVault with the Mayo Clinic and New York Presbyterian Hospital.