Jeff Wessinger - VP & GM, Life Sciences, PointClickCare
Over the course of the last two decades, the healthcare industry has witnessed the digitization and consolidation of data to improve scientific research. In the past, information was siloed, disparate, and focused on health claims data. Today, digital health systems are turning to representative, quality, and timely data to improve patient care in the increasingly digital world. This data trove is revolutionary, and the vision is clear. Any health care system that has a vision that’s worthwhile has to ultimately have a goal of improving patient outcomes. Whether it’s a health system designed to put patients at the center, the EHR for the caregivers, or if it’s a way of connecting to the companies that are innovating therapies that could solve some of these diseases, the goal must be in improving the quality of life or the life expectancy of these patients – all aspects where data plays a crucial role. Let’s explore how the relationship between data and the life sciences industry has evolved, for the better.
Looking Back at a Turbulent, but Innovative Year
The pandemic has driven pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to turn to real-time data to alleviate challenges, and we can expect this collaboration to pave the way for future healthcare innovation, new medicines, and more.
Following a difficult few years, the life sciences industry is now better equipped to link data sets through encrypted Protected Health Information (PHI) tokens, allowing organizations to follow the data across these systems without sacrificing patient privacy. This is a level of detail that simply wasn’t available before but is coming to the forefront at the perfect time. This data trove has become revolutionary, especially within Long-Term and Post-Acute Care (LTPAC), as this population data has never been available for analysis—leaving this sector untapped for research purposes.
What it all boils down to is information and with that an opportunity to unlock. With respect to technology, the pandemic has shown us the need and ability to embrace e-health initiatives — embracing technology to capture these vitals or the different diagnostics that they are capable of now. There is an opportunity to get better information and potentially remove a lot of the data entry burden or the administrative burden to get that information that was required in the past. Through this, we can reduce labor and increase information value at the same time. In the end, it provides better care with less work – something that the pandemic has caused us to need.
Enhancing the Patient Experience Tomorrow
Through analysis, data sets can help providers create a holistic, 360° view of their patients, focused on personalized treatments, improved communication, and enhanced health outcomes. With access to real-world data, research and development teams can gain a deeper understanding of the long-term and post-acute care demographic, resulting in more data-enriched pragmatic clinical trials and Real-World Evidence (RWE) studies.
One thing that we have been missing in the past is the patients themselves. We see a lot of information that’s being entered by nurses, physicians, or other parts of the reimbursement ecosystem, but the patient’s information, at least as it’s coming directly from them, is noticeably absent. There needs to be a shift in focus to get the patient directly involved. From a technology perspective, organizations need to either get these disparate systems to speak together or come up with a common language for them to speak. When things get missed, lack of correct care or worse outcomes is the result – meaning a patient gets the wrong medication or gets no medication at all. In the end, it’s all about information and connecting that information.
Access to these precise data sets allows the research community to gain access to real-world patient data—data that was historically siloed within and across disparate care settings—which can help accelerate innovation designed to protect the most vulnerable among us. Ultimately the end goal of life sciences organizations – data is changing the patient experience as we know it and setting new standards of care.
Continuing the Evolution
The use of data continues to evolve – a trend that will only continue. The analysis has the potential to provide early warning signs, mitigate the spread of disease, and find new cures. Over the last two decades, organizations have collected a significant amount of real-world data on patient therapy and treatment information, including detailed outcomes that result from treatments. By breaking down the silos between patient data and research, we can accelerate innovation designed to protect the most vulnerable among us.
Jeff Wessinger is the Vice President and General Manager of Life Sciences at PointClickCare, with a demonstrated history of working in healthcare technology. Jeff has extensive experience in the areas of life sciences, the pharmaceutical space and data analytics. Jeff is an experienced software executive and a recognized thought leader in the world of pharmaceutical information technology. He specializes in software development life cycle, customer relationship management, real-world evidence and health economics and outcomes technologies, working to provide innovative digital strategies for the world’s largest life sciences companies.
Currently, Jeff leads the Life Sciences initiative at PointClickCare, where his team is working to advance care by providing healthcare organizations, government agencies, and life sciences companies with de‐identified real‐world data. Before Jeff’s time at PointClickCare, he served as the Co-founder and President of Skura Corporation, guiding the company through an acquisition by Indegene, where he then functioned as senior vice president of strategic software products. A proud graduate of The University of Western Ontario, Jeff continues to live and work in the Ontario area.
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