The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and HealthEx announced a strategic collaboration aimed at revolutionizing how patients control their medical data through an artificial intelligence-driven consent management platform. The partnership seeks to address longstanding challenges in healthcare data utilization by streamlining consent processes while enhancing patient transparency and control.
AI-Powered Solution for Data Consent Challenges
The collaboration centers on the continued development and future implementation of HealthEx's AI-driven global consent and data rights management platform. This technology is designed to enable fast, compliant and patient-centric data access, addressing critical barriers that currently prevent healthcare institutions from fully utilizing patient data for research purposes.
"Patients understand the value their data has to researchers working to end cancer, but they also want and deserve to know how their data is used and who is using it," said David Jaffray, Ph.D., chief technology and digital officer at MD Anderson. "Through this collaboration, we are co-creating new approaches to simplify the consent process so patients can make more informed decisions about their data than is possible using existing technology."
Addressing Healthcare Data Utilization Barriers
Healthcare institutions like MD Anderson generate vast amounts of data through routine patient care, but several factors often prevent this data from being fully utilized by researchers and other trusted ecosystem partners. One significant hurdle identified is the complex patient consent process that creates a dual burden: lengthy forms that overwhelm patients and labor-intensive workflow challenges for healthcare institutions.
The current system's lack of transparency also limits patients' ability to see and understand how their data contributes to scientific progress, creating additional barriers to meaningful participation in research efforts.
Platform Capabilities and Implementation Strategy
HealthEx's platform utilizes AI to help organizations create, curate and enforce patient consents and preferences. The system's data policy engine creates automated workflows designed to ensure compliance with both patient preferences and institutional policies. The technology specifically targets allowing patients to control how they contribute their data to ongoing and future research that may improve outcomes for future patients.
"MD Anderson and HealthEx strive to pioneer a patient-centric, transparent and AI-augmented model for health data management," said Priyanka Agarwal, M.D., MBA, co-founder and chief executive officer at HealthEx. "Our vision is to change how data serves both patients and health care institutions. By transforming consent and data access policies, we can maximize the value of health data, strengthen patient trust and improve health care for everyone."
Collaborative Development Approach
Working together, HealthEx and MD Anderson will evaluate methods that leverage this platform to streamline future consenting approaches. The collaboration builds on complementary strengths and furthers MD Anderson's approach to enabling data-driven advances while providing proper stewardship of patient data.
The partnership represents a progressive approach to creating a health data ecosystem grounded in both transparency and accountability, with the ultimate goal of benefiting patients while enabling impactful cancer research. The collaboration aims to establish new standards for how healthcare data serves both patients and healthcare institutions through transformed consent and data access policies.
