Industry Insight

Orion Health Begins Migration of Patient Records to Amazon Web Services

Orion Health recently announced the company will migrate its Amadeus precision medicine platform to the Amazon Web Services, Inc (AWS) Cloud. Orion Health’s software currently manages more than 110 million patient records globally.

“We are impressed by Orion Health’s approach to developing cloud-based, big data solutions built on modern, scalable technology,” says Steve Halliwell, AWS director of health care and life sciences. “The AWS Cloud gives health care companies a powerful tool to enable new technologies to ingest, analyze, visualize, and store the data, while still improving security and efficiency. We look forward to collaborating with Orion Health as they use the cloud to improve health care delivery for every patient.”

“Today Amadeus is utilized by many health systems across the world to acquire, unify, and store traditional medical record data,” says Ian McCrae, CEO of Orion Health. “The move to AWS now allows Amadeus to store vast volumes of new data including genomic, device, social, behavioral, environmental, and other new data types.

“Health care is about to experience a ‘tsunami of new information’ that will revolutionize the practice of medicine. Medical records could eventually contain as much as six terabytes of data per patient. This move to AWS positions us well to deliver the platform functionality required to store and make sense of this data,” McCrae says.

By using the AWS Cloud, Orion Health can provide advanced security, data privacy, higher availability, and machine learning, which are all essential to securely manage and interpret the vast amounts of health information that will soon be available.

The patient health record is fast becoming the center of the health information ecosystem for whole populations. According to McCrae, the complexities involved in acquiring, storing, interpreting, and then presenting the medical records of the future means that it is likely that only a few vendors will have the necessary industry experience, global presence, and software technology to do it. “Orion Health intends to be one of those organizations,” McCrae says.

“The AWS Cloud is a key part in enabling Orion Health to become the custodian of the world’s health records,” McCrae says. “Orion plans to take advantage of the new AWS regions in the United Kingdom and Canada to launch the Orion Health Amadeus platform in these countries, as well as the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.”

— Source: Orion Health

Lucia Savage Joins Omada Health as Chief Privacy and Regulatory Officer

Omada Health recently announced that former Chief Privacy Officer at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Lucia Savage, JD, has joined the company as chief privacy and regulatory officer. Savage will expand Omada’s legal and compliance team, and drive the company’s continued commitment to advancing digital health, including the safe, secure, and effective handling of participants’ personal health information (PHI).

“In the evolution of a young company, opportunities to add industry leaders with the depth and breadth of Lucia’s experience don’t come along often,” says Omada CEO and cofounder Sean Duffy. “As Omada continues to expand our partnerships with health plans and health systems, and as we prepare to begin offering diabetes prevention to Medicare beneficiaries in 2018, there is no one we’d rather have shepherding Omada’s privacy, regulatory, and compliance efforts. Lucia will also continue her work demystifying HIPAA across the industry and lead the way in demonstrating that regulatory infrastructure and innovation are fully compatible.”

In her role, Savage will be responsible for leading Omada’s regulatory strategy, ensuring the privacy and security of participant PHI, and enabling Omada and its health care partners take advantage of Omada’s digital platform. She will work to coordinate seamless integration of the Omada program with electronic medical and patient data record systems, and to allow Omada customers to integrate the company’s program into clinical processes, while empowering participants to achieve even better outcomes.

“One of my proudest accomplishments at ONC was bringing clarity to millions of patients, caregivers, providers, and health care organizations on how HIPAA supports our national goals for better health at lower cost through information-sharing for patient health and learning,” Savage says. “With Omada, I have the chance to join an organization at the cutting edge of digital health. I am excited by the opportunity to lead work with state and federal regulators on how Omada can help patients get personalized, life-saving interventions that respect the patient’s dignity and privacy, driving us towards a truly 21st-century health care system.”

— Source: Omada Health