John Halamka, M.D. has got to bethebusiest person in healthcare.
He's a recognized health IT executive, a practicing emergency room physician, a public policy expert, Harvard professor, speaker, and advocate for the industry.
He leads technology initiatives at some of the most respected healthcare organizations in the countryat Beth Israel Lahey Health for 20 years and now at Mayo Clinic.
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On Jan. 1, Halamka took on the job ofpresident of Mayo Clinic Platform in Rochester, Minnesota to lead the hospital'sdigital healthand artificial intelligence projects.
He also runs a farm, like a real working farm. Along with a cidery and a winery.
Halamka and his wife, Kathy Halamka, founded the Massachusetts animal rescue organizationUnity Farm Sanctuaryin 2016. It'shome to 250 animals as well as a working farm with 30 acres of agricultural production.
And Halamka says he is as passionate about his alpacas, miniature horses, cows, and pigs as he is about health IT. Each rescue has a special story. That includes Dudley,a ScottishHighland Bull who has become a big attraction and now has 6,000 followers on Facebook.
FierceHealthcare was able to catchwith Halamka back in December to chatabout his move to Mayo Clinic, what most excites him about the future of healthcare technology,and what will happen to his beloved farm.
FierceHealthcare: What is the Mayo Clinic Platform?
John Halamka:The idea is this: if you look at the next fiveyears, there's going to be more use of machine learning and big data, especially as we embrace more personalized medicine and precision medicine, and there's going to be more Internet of Things, connected devices and more mobile apps. All of this done in the context of bullet-proof privacy and security and every healthcare system is asking, 'How are you going to do that?'
Healthcareis in the middle of a transformation, with business models, reimbursement and workflow. Gianrico Farrugia, the CEO of Mayo Clinic, developed a2030 strategic plan for Mayo and he said, 'We need platforms.' The idea is this: What if thisplatform of technology, policies, and people were able to radically shorten the time to evaluate emerging companies and create an "innovation factory"forcollaboration? The platform will havecomponents that can be reused for many kinds of innovations.
My role is running the digital health care businesses for Mayo with the goal of ensuring thatwe have regularized and high-quality components so we can embrace innovation and business model changes quickly and safely.
FH: What kind of initiatives will you be working on?
JH: Let's look at the experience of arranginghome hospital care for an aging parent. I did it for my father and the healthcare system was notquite ready for it. What would a home healthcare platform look like? Itwould have things likethe capacity to deliver medications in the home, a monitor in the home, blood pressure or glucometers, and services delivered to the home such as supplies.Some of those resources will be supplied by third parties. So how do we ensure that all third parties can plug into a common set of technological resources?
That's where platform components come into play, with policies and privacy and security built in to determine who can see what data and how you can use it. We can build a clinical data platform for home healthcare and help toinform the care of patients in the future.
FH: What most excites you about the potential for technology to improve healthcare?
JH:My father-in-law, my daughter,and my wife. We had to set up home hospital care for my father-in-law who had pancreatic cancer, and it was very difficult to set that up.In my work at Mayo, if we can create quality and safe care at home, that will be,in effect,my tribute to my father-in-law and his experience.
My daughter is 26 and when she's hungry she can use the Grubhub app on her phone to order food, but she told meher doctor wants herto fax her medical records. If I can enable a platform so that my daughter's healthcareexperience from her phone or IoT device or wearableisnear that from any other industry, that's atribute to my daughter.
My wife was diagnosed withstage 3 breast cancer in 2011. Back then, I had to mine the data to figure out the best treatmentwith the least side effects. Every cancer patient should have the benefit of that kind of personalized medicine. To be ableto inform the future care of cancer patients, that's a tribute to my wife to work on that.
FH: With your move to Mayo, what will happen to Unity Farm?
JH: I'll be inRochester four days aweekand will fly back on weekends. Thefarm and 250 animals willstay in Massachusetts.
FH: How do you find the time to do all this?
JH:I've been vegan for 25 years. It works for me and gives me20 hours aday ofenergy where you dont have the high highs or low lows and don't have that feeling of being sleepy after a meal. Thevegan diet and lifestyle help. I dont drink a lot of alcohol or a lot of caffeine.
And there's nothing like a farm, where you have to get up a 4 a.m and shovel manure. That will getyou fit. And itkeeps you humble.
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Executive SpotlightJohn Halamka on his move to Mayo Clinic and what excites him about the future of health IT - FierceHealthcare
