Fred Trotter
Fred Trotter works with Open Source Health Information software, things like Electronic Health Records and Health Information Exchange software. Fred believes that good technology in healthcare can reduce medical errors and empower patients.
Preferred structures for cleaned-up doctor data
Which data formats should the DocGraph project support?
The DocGraph project has an interesting issue that I think will become a common one as the open data movement continues. For those that have not been keeping up, DocGraph was announced at Strata RX, described carefully on this blog, and will be featured again at Strata 2013. For those that do not care to click links, DocGraph is a crowdfunded open data set, which merges open data sources on doctors and hospitals.
As I recently described on the DocGraph mailing list, work is underway to acquire the data sets that we set out to merge. The issue deals with file formats.
The core identifier for doctors, hospitals and other healthcare entities is the National Provider Identifier (NPI). This is something like a Social Security number for doctors and hospitals. In fact it was created in part so that doctors would not need to use their Social Security numbers or other identifiers in order to participate in healthcare financial transactions (i.e. paid by insurance companies for their services). The NPI is the “one number to rule them” in healthcare and we want to map data from other sources accurately to that ID.
Each state releases none, one or several data files that can be purchased and also contain doctor data. But these file downloads are in “random file format X.” Of course we are not yet done with our full survey of the files and their formats, but I can assure you that they are mostly CSV files and a troubling number of PDF files. It is our job to take these files and merge them against the NPI, in order to provide a cohesive picture for data scientists.
But the data available from each state varies greatly. Sometimes they will have addresses, sometimes not. Sometimes they will have fax numbers, sometimes not, sometimes they will include medical school information, some will not. Sometimes they will simply include the name of the medical school, sometimes they will use a code. Sometimes when they use codes they will make up their own …
I am not complaining here. We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we took on the DocGraph project. The community at large has paid us well to do this work! But now we have a question? What data formats should we support? Read more…
DocGraph: Open social doctor data
An inside look at DocGraph, a data project that shows how the U.S. health care system delivers care.
At Strata RX in October I announced the availability of DocGraph. This is the first project of NotOnly Development, which is a Not Only For Profit Health IT micro-incubator.
The DocGraph dataset shows how doctors, hospitals, laboratories and other health care providers team together to treat Medicare patients. This data details how the health care system in the U.S. delivers care.
You can read about the basics of this data release, and you can read about my motivations for making the release. Most importantly, you can still participate in our efforts to crowdfund improvements to this dataset. We have already far surpassed our original $15,000 goal, but you can still get early and exclusive access to the data for a few more days. Once the crowdfunding has ended, the price will go up substantially.
This article will focus on this data from a technical perspective.
In a few days, the crowdfunding (hosted by Medstartr) will be over, and I will be delivering this social graph to all of the participants. We are offering a ransom license that we are calling “Open Source Eventually,” so participants in the crowdfunding will get exclusive access to the data for a full six months before the license to this dataset automatically converts to a Creative Commons license. The same data is available under a proprietary-friendly license for more money. For all of these “releases,” this article will be the go-to source for technical details about the specific contents of the file.
Who owns patient data?
Look inside health data access and you'll see why "ownership" is inadequate for patient information.
Patients, doctors and providers have a unique set of privileges that do not line up exactly with a traditional concept of ownership.
Principles of patient access in Directed Exchange
This is an opportunity to rethink how health data flows.
In this digital world, health data that's 36-hours old can only be analyzed as a post-mortem. Health data that's 30-days old is already rotting.
The Direct Project in action
Houston's healthcare community is deploying a Direct Project pilot.
Jim Langabeer, CEO of Greater Houston Healthconnect, discusses the implementation goals and hurdles related to a Direct Project pilot program.
AI will eventually drive healthcare, but not anytime soon
A merging of artificial intelligence and healthcare is tougher than many realize.
People will eventually get better care from artificial intelligence, but for now, we should keep the algorithms focused on the data that we know is good and keep the doctors focused on the patients.
The rise of programmable self
Quantifying your changes + motivational hacks = programmable self.
Taking a cue from the Quantified Self movement, the programmable self is the combination of a digital motivation hack with a digital system that tracks behavior. Here's a look at companies and projects relevant to the programmable self space.
Epatients: The hackers of the healthcare world
A quick reference for becoming an empowered patient.
The epatient community uses digital tools and the connective power of the Internet to empower patients. Here, Fred Trotter offers epatient resources and first steps.
