Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE +
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Information Technology
January 14, 2020 12:01 AM

Mayo Clinic's new data-sharing initiative launches first project

Jessica Kim Cohen
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The Mayo Clinic will target drug discovery in its latest effort to improve healthcare through data insights, the Rochester, Minn.-based health system said Tuesday.

    The clinical data analytics platform—Mayo Clinic Platform's first project since launching last year—is a "mechanism by which the data of the past can be used to improve the care of the future," said Dr. John Halamka, president of Mayo Clinic Platform. While drawing out insights from historical data isn't new in healthcare, Mayo believes the technical architecture underpinning the project will make the process more efficient, particularly for collaborators from outside the system.

    The platform's mission is to create consistent sets of technology tools and policies for different types of collaborations.

    For the new clinical data analytics platform, that meant setting up cloud containers that house de-identified patient data, which providers, payers and pharmaceutical companies outside of Mayo can link up to via application programming interfaces, as well as establishing standard templates for compliance and legal agreements.

    It can take health systems more than a year to get a partnership up and running without these standardized tools and processes, according to Halamka.

    Mayo Clinic Platform's first partner on the clinical data analytics platform is Nference, an software startup that Mayo is an investor in.

    Nference develops analytics, machine learning and natural language processing tools that "augment" the work of data scientists, in an effort to help pharmaceutical companies and research organizations conduct "research at scale," said Venky Soundararajan, Nference's founder and chief scientific officer.

    Under the partnership, researchers from Mayo and Nference will aim to apply Nference's tools to de-identified data held in the clinical data analytics platform to draw out insights, such as identifying biomarkers for new drugs.

    Mayo Clinic said it hopes to work with pharmaceutical companies to commercialize new therapies, said Andy Danielsen, chair of Mayo Clinic Ventures, the system's commercialization arm. Mayo itself wouldn't commercialize those therapies, though the system could receive royalties from insights generated on the platform.

    While efforts to discover new therapies is an initial focus of the clinical data analytics platform, Halamka suggested other uses could include allowing providers to query the platform to gain insight into patients exhibiting the same symptoms as a patient they're treating, or insurers to query the platform to understand which patients respond best to an expensive therapy.

    Mayo plans to only charge for-profit companies for accessing its clinical data analytics platform. (Mayo didn't charge Nference for access because it is a partner on the clinical data analytics platform.)

    Any revenue generated from the platform would be re-invested into Mayo's clinical practice, research and education work, Danielsen said.

    The clinical data analytics platform is hosted on Google Cloud, as part of a partnership with Google that Mayo Clinic announced in September. Danielsen stressed that Google, for now, is a "passive data-storage company" for the platform.

    "Google doesn't get to see any of our data, they don't get to access any of our data there," he said. "They're like the bank vault."

    That could change in the future, as Mayo continues to strike agreements with new partners. Google could access the data if the system taps the tech giant to work on a specific project, Danielsen said.

    Google, which has had a messy history with data privacy in the consumer world, has been embroiled in controversy over its healthcare work since late last year, when details emerged about a partnership it struck with Ascension.

    To tackle privacy concerns, Halamka said Mayo Clinic Platform has instituted additional processes that cordon off third parties from being able to access patient data.

    Rather than sharing de-identified patient data directly with a third-party partner, Mayo Clinic Platform will de-identify patient data in a cloud-based container—a type of technology that bundles an application's code in a way that allows it to be deployed elsewhere—that it operates. Outside partners would only be able to access the de-identified data once it's placed in a separate container.

    That data doesn't leave the container, since third parties would also run algorithms inside of it.

    "The de-identified data never leaves," Halamka said. "What leaves are answers."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Judy_Faulkner_Epic_HIMSS17_edit_i.jpg
    Epic outlines what's ahead for patient portal, Cosmos
    Cerner_fullsize_AP_i.jpg
    Cerner to pay $1.8M to resolve racial discrimination allegations
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Health IT Strategist (HITS) Newsletter: Sign up for the latest IT and medical technology news delivered 3 days a week (M, W, F).
     
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE +
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing