Intermountain, MDClone partner to ‘unlock’ value of patient data

The Utah-based healthcare system is working with an Israeli healthcare IT vendor in an effort to transform its clinical data repositories into actionable insights.

Launched in 2016, Israel’s MDClone will “share a new approach to healthcare data access, analytics and research with Intermountain,” according to the announcement.

Under the partnership, Intermountain’s data will be loaded into MDClone’s proprietary Healthcare Data Sandbox platform to assess it longitudinally—evaluating patients’ comprehensive medical records—to better understand critical decision points in their care, while ensuring patient privacy.

Intermountain emphasizes that the MDClone Sandbox includes “unique safeguards to protect patient privacy that produce synthetic data without risk of exposing patient identity.” The synthetic datasets are based on original data but do not contain any actual patient data.

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“We’re proud to continue fostering digital health innovation in this exciting partnership with MDClone,” says Mike Phillips, MD, managing director of Intermountain Ventures. “Gathering good patient data is essential to our mission, but the key is unlocking it to pull out the most meaningful information and applying it in ways that bring value to the caregiver, the health system and, most importantly, the patient. This collaboration will help us do just that.”

Initially, Intermountain and MDClone will focus on kidney disease—which can cost the average patient $250,000 a year or more—with the goal of treating and preventing their progression to end-stage renal disease. The two organizations also have identified other clinical priorities meant to enhance patient care and reduce treatment costs, including chronic heart failure and stroke care.

“We look forward to the opportunity to engage this approach to keep our patients healthier in partnership with MDClone,” says Titte Srinivas, MD, a nephrologist in the Intermountain Transplant Clinic. “This technology will help us to identify trends and key decision points in treating kidney disease and apply that knowledge to help prevent patients from progressing to end-stage renal disease. It’s a game changer for the delivery of safer, more cost-effective, higher-quality care.”