This week I’m attending the The Civitas Networks for Health 2022 Annual Conference, a Collaboration with the DirectTrust Summit, which I previously described as The Woodstock of Healthcare Interoperability. I’m happy to say that it’s lived up to billing with an incredible group of people who understand the challenges of health data exchange.
One of the most interesting sessions at the conference was a discussion with Craig Konnoth, Professor at University of Virginia School of Law and Muhammad Chebli, a self proclaimed Interoperability Geek and VP, Solutions at NextGen. Their discussion was prompted by this paper that was published on “Health Data Federalism.” While I haven’t had a chance to read the 80 page paper yet, the concept of federalism versus states rights applied to health data is a fascinating one that I had never heard discussed before. Plus, it was interesting to see the mix of political and legal frameworks Konnoth references in the discussion.
Obviously, you should go read the paper to get the more detailed picture. Also, Chebli did this great thread summarizing some of the key points. Nothing like reading a Twitter thread cliff notes version of a paper. Below, you can also read some of the key insights I gleaned from the in-person discussion.
Fascinating discussion about federal vs states and health data with @NextGen at #Together4Health2022 pic.twitter.com/eDdXqmoR96
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
Public and private entities can be both good and bad. #Together4Health2022 #hitsm @NextGen
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
This was said in the larger context that the paper wasn’t advocating for public or private approaches to health data. However, he’s right to point out and highlight that there are good and bad things that come from public entities that have and control your health data and the same for private entities that control health data. I’d just suggest that it’s key for us to understand the differences.
As a general rule, most health it funding has shifted from public entities to private companies. @muhammadc #Together4Health2022 @NextGen
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
Given the above perspective, it was interesting to hear his observation that most health IT funding has shifted from funding public entities to funding private entities. This is an important observation to consider as we look at health data sharing going forward.
It’s important to engage private equities so they have inclusion of the public values. #Together4Health2022 @muhammadc @NextGen
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
This was an interesting idea on how to approach the move noted above towards private entities. While private and public both have pros and cons, the idea of encouraging public values on these private entities is worthy of consideration. Konnoth didn’t elaborate in the discussion about how this could happen. My guess is that it could be done through a mix of funding requirements and selection criteria. Plus, in healthcare there are also regulatory options.
Supporting funding for state data collection is important. #Together4Health2022 @muhammadc @NextGen
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
Konnoth did suggest that when it comes to health data, he thought there was value in continuing to fund state collection of health data. That when it comes to health data it shouldn’t all be federal and there’s value to a distributed state based collection of health data as well.
There are a number of ways to get states involved in health data exchange. It seems odd that so much of healthcare is by state, but health data exchange would be privatized. @muhammadc #Together4Health2022 @NextGen
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
This observation is a good one when you think about healthcare, much of it is state by state. So, it’s intriguing that health data wouldn’t follow a similar pattern. We could certainly argue whether that’s good or bad.
What do you think about data federalism vs states data? Fascinating discussion from @CKonnoth and @muhammadc #Together4Health2022 @NextGen
— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022
As you can see, this was a fascinating discussion at the conference full of a lot of nuance. I’d love to hear your perspectives on health data federalism versus state data. Thanks to Konnoth for bringing his research to the event and NextGen for facilitating a great discussion. What are your thoughts on the right approach to health data? Are there ways we should change course? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
