Sponsored by Syntropy | Oct 11, 2021 8:00am
University of California, Irvine’s Health Affairs and Syntropy recently announced a new, five-year strategic partnership to transform how data is integrated and contextualized across the health research and health care continuum. The partnership supports the work to connect clinical-, research- and patient-reported data across the entire UCI enterprise while setting a new precedent for data utilization in scientific discovery.
This Q&A explores how Syntropy, a technology company specializing in healthcare data governance, harmonization and collaboration, will enable UCI’s Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences and UCI Health to work across their enterprise and with external partners to advance health research and patient care.
What is the starting point for a successful partnership?
James Kugler, Member of the Board of Syntropy: Being on the same page is key. From the onset, it was clear that we shared a common vision with UCI. We can most effectively accelerate research, improve patient outcomes, and imagine the future of healthcare through understanding data and its ability to spur scientific innovation. Our partnership will enable collaboration across the University of California and beyond, and ultimately support the well-being of patients.
What do you hope to accomplish, with the help of Syntropy, at UCI?
Dr. Steve Goldstein, UCI’s Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs: UCI has remarkable strengths and a uniquely collaborative ethos that crosses the academic health system, the college of health sciences, and our schools of computer sciences, engineering, biological sciences as well as the applied innovation institute – all in a biotech hub in Southern California – that combine to place UCI Health Affairs at the forefront of precision health and therapy. A powerful data platform is key to supporting our work.
Tom Andriola, UCI’s Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and Data and Chief Digital Officer: The challenge of aggregating and curating data to make it more useful, both for scientists and clinicians who work synergistically to heal, is our aim. Our work will lower barriers and empower healthcare providers by combining and contextualizing disparate and diverse datasets of patient-related information, opening new doors to digital health and AI-based solutions.
How will this partnership impact patient care?
Andriola: UCI can fully leverage a tremendous volume of health data from our organization as well as our partners. This access allows us to better understand each patient, tailor treatment informed by the patients we’ve treated before, and evaluate pathways to inform clinical guidelines. An integrated health data analytics platform enables scientists and researchers to derive insights and algorithms faster and more accurately. The result is better care with a holistic view of an individual’s or community’s health needs.
Goldstein: We are committed to optimizing “care for 101st patient”. This means that we care for patients based not only on their symptoms and history, but we are guided by medical data from many patients that train a machine learning algorithm in an ongoing basis to support best outcomes. The second patient is treated more effectively than the first, and so forth. Our researchers and providers are now working together to expand this practice across all our health and wellness units.
How will this partnership encourage continued collaboration across the care continuum?
Goldstein: We are democratizing data to help all providers save lives. While the innovation may start here, it does not end here. The impact across the care continuum is boundless. For example, data has the potential to prevent asthma attacks requiring emergency room visits and hospitalization. In turn, this brings down the cost of healthcare, while opening beds for the most critically ill who require advanced care. Better integrated data is also essential to help us tackle health inequities.
Kugler: Breaking down data silos and creating an ecosystem that helps stakeholders across the healthcare continuum work collectively is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s imperative that we explore strategic partnership questions like, “Are stakeholders’ needs and objectives being met?” Our model is radical and unique: we enable healthcare organizations to maintain full control of their data while providing a powerful platform that enables smart use of the data on terms set by the data owner.
A shared vision for the future, enhanced collaboration, and a drive to positively impact patient outcomes – all important elements of a partnership. Anything else?
Kugler: We want to speed up science and ultimately change the care landscape through a business model that’s sustainable and responsible. Our goal is to empower scientists and clinicians to fully leverage the data they have. This allows the researchers to accelerate and drive breakthrough discoveries and treatments. We believe the right thing to do is not to own or resell data. The most ethical way to collaborate then starts with coming together in full transparency.
Andriola: The framework we establish must promote data liquidity, privacy preservation, and health justice. Our industry needs a sound framework that engenders trust by all those within the healthcare ecosystem, especially the patients. By enabling data source unification, control, and attribution, and in return, access, and collaboration in an environment that is fully compliant and protects privacy, we open up new opportunities to do what we do best: drive healthcare innovation and improve patient lives.
To learn more about Syntropy visit: https://syntropy.com/This article was created in collaboration with the sponsoring company and our sales and marketing team. The editorial team does not contribute.