Traditionally, healthcare providers were the sole reporting authorities that identified potential outbreaks across the country, but now Practice Fusion, a fast-growing electronic medical records community in the U.S., is about to change that with the launch of a new research site.
The site, practicefusion.com/research, will help public health agencies predict outbreaks, equip physicians with the latest information and allow interactions about health in the tech community, according to medical authorities.
While the research division will continue to deal with original research conducted by data scientists using the EMR's clinical database, it will also invite the150,000 EMR associated medical professionals to come forth with suggestions for research projects and health trends for investigation.
Researchers and developers will also have free access to de-identified health dataset of 15,000 records for their own projects and also to the research divisions' data-driven posts to understand and further healthcare. In fact, some independent startups have used the de-identified health dataset as the foundation for their business.
Practice Fusion's clinical dataset, with over 30 million records, has been used to detect disease outbreaks, identify dangerous drug interactions, and compare the effectiveness of competing treatments and obtain vaccines.
“Big data holds the key to understanding healthcare today and improving it in the future,” said Dr. Robert Rowley, medical director at Practice Fusion. “Putting this knowledge in the hands of doctors will save lives and enable patients to make informed decisions about their health.”
Practice Fusion's Research Division is also establishing partnerships with public health agencies and other academic institutions in the pursuit of new health studies.
In other news, Practice Fusion recently announced that its e-prescribing software has been revamped, creating a faster, simpler and more streamlined user experience based on community feedback. The company's free e-prescribing technology flagged more than 7,000 deadly drug interactions for medical professionals in 2011 alone.
Edited by
Jennifer Russell
