The universe of those interested in developing patient registries is growing, especially where it relates to rare diseases and oncology. In order to improve the standard of care overall, patients and their providers must have access to accurate non-clincial data, clinical data, longitudinal health data, at scale. Registries, open-source registries, I might add emphatically, are going to be the way toward this future.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for diagnostic tests to be performed. period. full-stop. Because the tests are never reviewed by the clinician, never acted upon and/or never make it to the patient. Patients die because of this. Patient stays are extended because of this. Hospitals get sued. Today I speak with Dr. Brian Gale from SaferMD. SaferMD has devised a way to help hospitals measure how well test results are getting to clinicians. And because what gets measured gets managed, this enables performance to improve.

Chris talks about the importance of defining business imperatives before doing any IT or data warehousing work, and then incrementally working toward these imperatives in a step-wise fashion that allows for mid-course adjustments. It’s all about finding and doing “the next right thing.” Our conversation cruises into a few other key areas like consumer engagement, improving health outcomes and cost and emerging business models.

When navigating all the options in the healthcare space, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, stymied and paralyzed by over choice. Lots of vendors are solving the same problems multiple ways and it’s impossible to know without time which will be the most effective. In this episode, I lend my perspective and advice on what I’ve learned about this matter over the last six months.

Today I speak with Josh Benner, the Founder of RxAnte, a provider of science-based information technology solutions for improving adherence and ultimately lowering the cost of healthcare. Dr. Benner is also the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development for RxAnte’s parent company, Millennium Health.