Health Universe Community of Practice

Developing an AI-powered App Ecosystem for Oncology

Historically, the informatics community has driven much of the innovation in health IT. Early EHR systems were often designed, implemented, and used by informatics and health care professionals, These research systems designed to test ways in which technology could support health and health care. 

Fast forward to today and we see a dichotomy. We all use apps on our smartphones for productivity. We can check email, search the internet, and do online banking. It is not difficult for developers with a good idea to both create an app and to solve specific problems and to share that app with others. But within the health care community, the adoption of commercial EHR systems has made it more difficult for bottom-up innovation. 

To innovate within health care information systems, we need systems that are compliant with existing HIPAA and ONC regulations, that integrate into existing workflows, and that leverage the power of both evidence-based and the latest AI technology to support patient care. We need to find a new way to drive innovation in oncology informatics.

To meet that goal, we are developing Health Universe, a flexible platform that makes it easy to develop, deploy, and manage apps within a healthcare setting. It is compliant with ONCs regulations for decision support, and it integrates into work environments using existing standards. 

Health Universe includes 

• AI-driven workflow integration that anticipates the needs of a clinician based on clinical context
• Best of breed technology for predictive and evidence-based apps
• An innovation sandbox to manage apps, implement governance, and support innovative organizational app development
• A collaborative community to share best practices and an app marketplace.

To jump start this new way of driving innovation, we are collaborating with the CI4CC community to identify new apps and workflows that will support the cancer center community, and enhance Health Universe to meet the needs of cancer centers and oncologists. We want innovative individuals and organizations to join our community of practice in oncology and create new and innovative apps that can advance oncology care.

Key areas of interest for app development include clinical trials management, access to best practices for cancer therapy, research support, and how best to leverage LLM and deterministic tools. 

We are looking for members interested in serving on our steering committee, and others that would like to participate in identifying and developing apps within this framework. Individual participants can get access to the Health Universe platform to deploy innovative apps that can be accessed through web interfaces. Organizational participants will be able to access organizational workplaces to develop apps and tools within their organization that can be used for education and research. Organizations can also propose innovative pilots which can include support for EHR integration and evaluation. 

If you are interested in participating in this initiative – as a steering committee member, as an individual innovator, or as an organization – please email Doug.Fridsma@healthuniverse.com!

https://www.healthuniverse.com/