Author: Chrissa McFarlane

Categories
Blockchain

Why Critical Healthcare Infrastructure Needs Blockchain: Thoughts on Cybersecurity from Patientory’s CEO

Hospital surgery emergency operating room surgical liquid drip equipment photo.

“The reality is that cyber-attacks have become significantly more sophisticated. Those who manage healthcare IT systems must start to seriously look at improving technologies used to protect the security of sensitive medical data and safeguard ongoing patient care.”

In an article on healthcare cybersecurity, Patientory CEO Chrissa McFarlane writes about the increase in cyber-attacks on healthcare organizations the past few years, the challenges faced by current healthcare IT systems, and the future of blockchain as a service to address these issues.

Blockchain is very difficult for hackers to breach for usable information. It can also be used to empower consumers to take control of their health data and securely share sensitive medical data. Read the full article here.

Categories
Blockchain Public Health

Blockchain and Public Health Belong Together

In instances of disease outbreaks or epidemics, it is vital that public health organizations have the ability to share crucial information quickly. Details regarding treatments, travels, medical records, and vaccines need to be shared as soon as possible across institutions and geographic locations to inform an effective response. For example, if a foreign traveler contracts hepatitis A or a dangerous virus spreads throughout a community by contaminated food or water, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needs to know about it so they can take appropriate action. To predict future epidemics, develop effective health policies, and ultimately control the spread of infectious diseases, the CDC, state and local health departments, and other organizations need to routinely share public health data. Although this seems like a simple task in the digital age, the reality is much more complicated.

Current systems of health data management are subject to different state laws and local practice standards, as well as concerns about privacy, security, and HIPAA compliance. While public health organizations share the same overall mission, they are unable to freely send and receive data amongst each other. There are a variety of data usage agreements in use and governmental policies dictate strict rules regarding health information access. The process of ensuring the correct data is sent or received by the right person for the right purpose is slow and inefficient. The lack of interoperability across health organizations and state borders results in inherent deficiencies in the management of public health. For example, the 2014 US Ebola outbreak was started by several infected individuals who were allowed back into the US when the government did not receive critical information about their health in time.   

Blockchain technology has been recognized by Patientory and others in the healthcare industry as a viable solution to address the privacy, security, and interoperability issues facing public health. The governance rules of a blockchain allow only predefined, authorized users to access requested information. This would ensure the privacy of sensitive health data and empower public health stakeholders to define and control permissions. Since blockchain is a distributed ledger, transactions are verified, encrypted, and maintained by a network of computers that collectively share the virtually incorruptible information. This peer-to-peer model of data sharing reflects what healthcare organizations need to successfully address public health crises. We here at Patientory wholeheartedly believe that blockchain and public health belong together.

Categories
Events

Patientory Participates in Two Events Today: ConVerge2Xcelerate & GA Blacks in Tech Policy

Patientory is committed to connecting people through community and transforming healthcare with better technology. We are excited about our participation in two different events happening today: ConVerge2Xcelerate at Columbia University and GA Blacks in Tech Policy at Atlanta City Hall.

ConVerge2Xcelerate

ConVerge2Xcelerate is a healthcare modernization event that brings together the foremost innovators and leaders in blockchain technology, telehealth, AI, and other technologies, to address the most compelling issues, growth opportunities, and financial implications for the healthcare industry. Patientory CEO Chrissa McFarlane will be speaking on two different panels related specifically to blockchain. The first one is titled “Tokens & The Internet of Value: Blending Game Theory, Computer Science, Psychology, and Economics,” and the second one is titled “Data Sharing? The Case for Blockchain at the Global Convergence of Healthcare, Life Sciences, and Consumer Markets.”

GA Blacks in Tech Policy

The second annual GA Blacks in Tech Policy is a gathering of hundreds of technologists, tech founders, investors, corporate partners, policymakers, and others to discuss policy proposals for a more inclusive tech policy in four major areas: FinTech, Healthcare IT, Energy, and Cybersecurity. The goal of the conference is to leverage the power of innovation and collaboration to create and push forward policies that impact technologists of color, locally, statewide, and on the federal level.

Patientory CEO Chrissa McFarlane will be honored during the Awards Lunch for her efforts in developing a more inclusive tech ecosystem in Georgia. She will be receiving GA’s “Blacks in Tech” Award for Investments, which recognizes an individual that has consistently and aggressively invested in the black tech community.

Categories
Videos

Patientory CEO & Health Transformer Shares Her Moonshot with StartUp Health

“[Healthcare is] ripe for disruption. It’s also one of the hardest industries to innovate in. And I think to be able to make an impact we definitely need moonshot thinking.” – Patientory CEO & Health Transformer Chrissa McFarlane

About StartUp Health

StartUp Health is organizing, supporting, and investing in a global army of Health Transformers, i.e. entrepreneurs reimagining the future of health. Since 2011, StartUp Health has been coaching and connecting Health Transformers from around the world who have the mindset to solve 10 Health Moonshots: Access to Care, Cost to Zero, Cure Disease, End to Cancer, Women’s Health, Children’s Health, Nutrition & Fitness, Brain Health, Mental Health & Happiness, and Longevity. StartUp Health is helping Health Transformers achieve their Health Moonshots to improve the health and well-being of everyone in the world.

Categories
Blockchain Healthcare Providers

How the Public Health Can Maintain the Integrity of Medical Records with Blockchain Technology

There is a timeless issue that has always challenged healthcare institutions: how can accurate medical data be shared securely among the providers and patients who need access to it? Although the digital age has moved us far away from cumbersome paper records, electronic health records (EHRs) still result in inefficiencies. The interoperability among healthcare data systems has traditionally relied on three different methods of information exchange. Push is used when a provider sends information to another provider, Pull is used when a provider requests information from another provider, and View is used when a provider views information inside another provider’s system. Although technologically functional, each of these methods is used vary across institutions and geographic locations, subject to different state laws and local practice standards. This makes it difficult for policymakers to effectively govern the complicated transmission of medical records and there is no standardized audit trail that ensures the integrity of medical data from the point of generation to the point of use.

A broad spectrum of data is collected and utilized in healthcare and the integrity of this data is of the utmost importance. Health data identifies and tracks patients as they move through healthcare systems, informing providers and ensuring that the right patient receives the right care at the right time. It is absolutely vital for this information to be accurate, consistent, and complete. With the prevalence of EHRs, a lack of data transmission standards, and rising cybersecurity concerns, integrity-based threats to medical records are very possible. A malicious party, either inside or outside a healthcare institution, can modify data such as drug allergy information in an untraceable way. The inability to track and verify changes not only puts patients at risk but threatens institutional trust and credibility.

Fortunately, there is a fourth method of information exchange that can be employed to address these issues and ensure the integrity of medical records. Despite its origins related to Bitcoin and the associated skepticism of cryptocurrency, blockchain technology is quickly becoming a viable solution to various societal problems. Applications for its use are being explored across industries, such as financial services, food systems, government, and healthcare. Blockchain, also referred to as distributed ledger technology, is essentially an unchangeable, decentralized record of transactions. There is not a singular owner of information but a peer network in which multiple stakeholders contribute blocks of information that are chronologically connected to the ones before, creating a chain of blocks. The blocks are unable to be removed or edited, resulting in a comprehensive, tamper-proof record of information.

The opportunity for ensuring medical record integrity is clear. Once health data is generated and verified, it can be added to the blockchain with the confidence of knowing it cannot be tampered with. Having a blockchain system like Patientory’s in place creates a record of changes to health data that can be reviewed to see who made what changes and when. In addition to maintaining the integrity of health data, this provides a comprehensive health picture to providers and empowers patients to take charge of their medical records. As a result of Patientory’s blockchain technology, individuals will be able to efficiently access their aggregated health information and securely share it across institutions and healthcare providers, ensuring their accurate personal health data is used in the right way for the right reasons.

Categories
Blockchain

The Value Potential of Blockchain in Healthcare: Q&A with Patientory’s Chrissa McFarlane

Prior to her participation on The Digital Value of Blockchain panel at the LSX World Congress USA 2018, Patientory CEO Chrissa McFarlane sat down for an interview with LSX, the network for life science executive leaders. She talked about her expectations for blockchain technology over the next few years and the possible hurdles blockchain may need to overcome to fully realize its potential in healthcare.

McFarlane also discusses her inspiration for Patientory, which was directly related to a need she saw in healthcare. “Specifically, the urgent need for secure, scalable, cost-effective solutions that deliver interoperability and improve health information exchange and access, while ensuring data security with the most effective technologies available today.”

Learn more about Chrissa’s passionate belief in blockchain as a powerful solution for healthcare in her full interview here.

Categories
Uncategorized

Pharma Intelligence Congratulates Winners of the Inaugural Medtech Insight Awards [Including Patientory CEO Chrissa McFarlane]

Awards highlight dedication and innovation within medical device and diagnostics.

Philadelphia – September 23, 2018 – Today, winners of the 2018 Medtech Insight Awards were announced at a gala ceremony held at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco. The inaugural event was attended by industry thought leaders and innovators who gathered to celebrate excellence among companies, teams, and individuals driving positive change across the medtech industry.

The Medtech Insight Awards were established to honor those, who through their passion and dedication, are driven to cure, inform, minimize treatment burden and make human lives better through medical devices and diagnostics.

Categories recognize achievements across the medtech industry, from technological innovations and partnerships, to emerging markets and fast-growing companies, to standout entrepreneurs.

“Pharma Intelligence congratulates the winners of the inaugural Medtech Insight Awards,” said David Filmore, Editor-in-Chief of Medtech Insight. “The winners epitomize the dedication and innovation that medical device and diagnostics developers have demonstrated over the past year.”

Below is a complete list of the 2018 Medtech Insight Awards winners:

Best Company for Accelerated Growth: Eargo

Best Proof-of-Value of an Innovation: Immunexpress: SeptiCyte™

Best Technological Innovation, Consumer Devices: Eargo Max – Air Conduction Hearing Aid

Best Technological Innovation, Diagnostics: Agendia – MammaPrint BluePrint Breast Cancer Recurrence and Molecular Subtyping Kit

Best Technological Innovation, Therapeutic Devices: Axonics Modulation Technologies – Sacral Neuromodulation System

Entrepreneur of the Year: Chrissa McFarlane, Patientory

Most Innovative Clinical Trial: Intersect ENT – The RESOLVE II Study

Most Innovative Team or Innovator of the Year: DNAe

The In Vivo Award for Best Medtech Partnership/Alliance: WuXi AppTec Group and Mayo Clinic

Venture Financial Deal of the Year: CMR Surgical – $100m Series B Funding

Highly Commended:

Best Proof-of-Value of an Innovation: Cardiva Medical – VASCADE

Best Technological Innovation – Diagnostics: Qgel

Most Innovative Team or Innovator of the Year: electroCore

Winners were chosen from entries adjudicated by an esteemed judging panel, which included: Serge Bernasconi, Chief Executive Officer, MedTech Europe; Bill Murray, Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting; Fredrik Nyberg, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed); Richard Phillips, Director, Healthcare Policy, ABHI; Randel Richner, Founder, President, Richner Consultants; Leslie Saxon, Professor of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC; Kristin Simeons, Vice President of Business Development, ximedica; Mark Turco, Chief Innovation Officer & Corporate Outreach Officer, Penn Center for Innovation.

The Medtech Insight Awards are managed by Medtech Insight, the trusted experts of the global medical technology industry. Medtech Insight provides real-time news and analysis, regulatory and company development news, and analyst perspective to help medical device and diagnostics professionals gain competitive advantage.

About Informa Pharma Intelligence
Informa Pharma Intelligence powers a full suite of analysis products – Datamonitor Healthcare, Sitetrove, Trialtrove, Pharmaprojects, Medtrack, Biomedtracker, Medtech Insight Scrip, Pink Sheet and In Vivo – to deliver the data needed by the pharmaceutical and biomedical industry to make decisions and create real-world opportunities for growth.

With more than 500 analysts keeping their fingers on the pulse of the industry, no key disease, clinical trial, drug approval or R&D project isn’t covered through the breadth and depth of data available to customers. For more information visit pharmaintelligence.informa.com.

About Informa PLC
Informa operates at the heart of the Knowledge and Information Economy. It is one of the world’s leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events businesses. With more than 6,500 employees globally, it has a presence in all major geographies, including North America, South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Categories
Videos

Patientory CEO Discusses Blockchain as a New Solution to Old Healthcare Problems

“One of the things with blockchain is it’s consortium based… so it’s really getting everyone incentivized and at the table, which doesn’t exist today. Here in the US, one of the biggest issues we have is interoperability which has been a problem for the past 15 years since the introduction of the EMR [Electronic Medical Record]. We definitely see blockchain as a starting point to really lay the groundwork and the foundation for a lot of the incentivization to happen.”

– Patientory CEO and Founder Chrissa McFarlane speaking at Bloomberg Live’s The Value of Data event on September 13th in New York

Categories
Healthcare Providers

New Pew Report Examines Ways to Improve Sharing of Patient Records Across Different Healthcare Institutions

The widespread use of electronic health records (EHRs) has helped care providers form more complete health pictures for their patients. However, accurately linking a patient’s medical records across different health institutions remains a challenge. Up to 50 percent of patients may be matched incorrectly when records are sent between healthcare facilities. In a new report, the Pew Charitable Trusts examined possible solutions to this problem by gathering insights from patient focus groups, interviews with doctors and hospital executives, and conversations with experts.

Overall, Pew concluded there is no singular solution. However, there are several short- and long-term steps government, EHR vendors, and hospitals could make to significantly improve matching rates. For example, in the short term, the agency that oversees EHRs, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, can help standardize how demographic data is recorded. In the long term, biometrics such as fingerprints or iris scans could be used to link medical records. Achieving the goal of a truly interoperable health care system is possible, but it will require action across stakeholders in the healthcare industry.

Read more about the report here.