Highmark Health Revolutionizes Healthcare Collaboration with Epic and Google Cloud Integration
In a groundbreaking move to enhance healthcare coordination and streamline the consumer experience, Highmark Health has joined forces with Epic and Google Cloud. This collaboration aims to leverage Epic’s Payer Platform to facilitate seamless communication between payers and providers, while Google Cloud’s advanced data analytics technologies will provide valuable insights to improve health outcomes.
Epic’s Payer Platform, known for fostering collaboration between health insurers and providers, will now be connected to Google Cloud, offering a new dimension of intelligence. This integration enables automated decision-making, faster information processing, and improved patient care, ultimately reducing administrative burdens and enhancing overall healthcare efficiency.
Tony Farah, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Highmark Health, expressed the significance of this collaboration. He stated, “Epic’s Payer Platform is a powerful resource that enables payers and providers to work more effectively together. Pairing that resource with Google Cloud’s technology gives Highmark Health the ability to change the paradigm.”
The incorporation of Google Cloud’s data analytics technologies, including BigQuery and Healthcare Data Engine, will provide valuable insights shared among provider partner organizations using Epic, Highmark health plan staff, and Highmark members through integrated digital channels such as the My Highmark member portal.
Amy Waldron, Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences Strategy and Solutions at Google Cloud, highlighted the broader impact of this collaboration. “Highmark Health’s use of Google Cloud will enable the organization to create an intelligence system equipped with AI to deliver valuable analytics and insights to healthcare workers, patients, and members.”
From a clinician’s standpoint, payer-derived insights delivered to existing provider workflows in Epic will offer a comprehensive view of a patient’s health. This includes details on conditions, in-and-out-of-network visits, health plan benefits, insurance claims, alerts for acute events, decision support, and care management.
Richard Clarke, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Analytics Officer at Highmark Health, emphasized the transformative nature of automation in healthcare data sharing. He said, “Leveraging automation for responsible data sharing is a game-changer, especially when it comes to reducing the administrative burden of relaying clinical information in various directions.”
More than half of Highmark’s 7 million members are currently attributed to an Epic provider, and the collaboration anticipates closing approximately 2.5 care gaps automatically for each attributed member. Highmark Health’s 14-hospital provider system, Allegheny Health Network, estimates annual savings of $2.7 million through shared claims data, which can be reinvested into quality clinical care and patient experience.
In addition to integrating Epic’s Payer Platform, Highmark Health is deploying a suite of tools to enhance digital enablement for provider partners, including a new provider resource center and provider portal powered by Availity. This innovative approach signifies a significant stride towards revolutionizing healthcare collaboration and improving patient outcomes.