Iatric Systems, which itself was acquired by Harris Healthcare this past summer, has announced that it is purchasing Haystack Informatics, whose behavioral analytics offerings aim to help providers ensure patient privacy and optimize operations.
WHY IT MATTERS
Iatric's wide suite of offerings – security, interoperability, EHR optimization, medical device integration and more – are mostly geared toward helping hospitals and health systems make the most of their existing technology infrastructure.
With the addition of Haystack Informatics, a digital health startup spun off from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, aims to add to the tools available to help healthcare providers maximize the value of their other IT investments.
Haystack's technology monitors activity log data from hospitals' electronic health records, analyzing how they're used, identifying anomalous activity patterns and spotlighting areas where the EHR can be better optimized.
Toward the aim of better privacy and security, the technology can make use of artificial intelligence to detect variations across the system, enabling threats to be detected and breaches prevented. The tech will help improve Iatric's existing privacy monitoring too, Iatric Systems Security Audit Manager, officials say.
THE LARGER TREND
Harris Healthcare announced its acquisition of Iatric Systems in August 2018, and has been running it as an independent business since then, with continued goal of developing and acquiring technology that helps hospitals be more efficient and effective.
This acquisition of Haystack signals a recognition of the value of AI and behavioral analytics to help spot anomalies that, if tackled, could lead to more efficient care processes and safer patient data.
As Dr. David Asch, executive director of Penn Medicine's Center for Health Care Innovation told Healthcare IT News a year ago: "The key promise of behavioral economics is that we're irrational in highly predictable ways."
That's in part why, for instance, Penn Medicine is pursuing a multi-year initiative to innovate its EHR for the 21st Century, focusing intently on behavioral design.
ON THE RECORD
"We look forward to bringing our advances in behavioral analytics to Iatric Systems customers in order to enhance patient privacy and improve operational performance throughout the health system,” said Adrian Talapan, co-founder and CEO of Haystack Informatics, in a statement.
Iatric Executive Vice President Frank Fortner added: "Haystack’s user centered design and advances in behavioral analytics will not only enhance our patient privacy monitoring solutions, but it will also allow us to extend our platform into new areas of behavioral insights."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.