Revolutionary Health Management System:

Larry Ellison highlights that Cerner and Oracle possess the technology to create a ground-breaking health management information system in the cloud. This system will provide superior information to healthcare professionals, resulting in a fundamental transformation of the healthcare industry.

Importance of Better Information:

Ellison emphasizes that better information is key to improving various aspects of healthcare. For doctors, this means being able to deliver improved patient outcomes. For public health officials, better information enables the development of more effective public health policy. Overall, better information will also help to lower healthcare costs.

Current Systems Are Hospital-Centric:

According to Ellison, existing health management systems are “hospital-centric” rather than “patient-centric.” That is, each hospital or hospital system operates its own separate information system, which is problematic in several ways.

Fragmentation of Electronic Health Records (EHR):

Ellison points out that patient records are currently fragmented across numerous databases, depending on the healthcare providers visited. For example, if a patient visits UCLA, their records will be in UCLA’s database; if they visit another hospital like Cedars-Sinai, a different database will store those records. This fragmentation causes significant challenges, including two extremely serious issues Ellison suggests but does not specify.

Challenges of Fragmented Health Records:

Larry Ellison elaborates on the risks of fragmented health records by providing an example of someone who lives in LA but gets into an accident in Cleveland. The Cleveland Clinic would not have access to the patient’s medical history stored in different hospitals in LA, hindering emergency care. This example illustrates the severe practical limitations of the current fragmented system of electronic health records (EHR).

Contrast with Financial Records:

Ellison notes the irony that, while health records are dispersed and inaccessible, all of a person’s financial records can be easily accessed through a single, unified credit card authorization database. This underscores the lack of a unified healthcare information system.

Solution: Unified National Health Records Database:

Ellison proposes solving the EHR fragmentation problem by creating a unified national health records database that sits on top of existing hospital databases. This system will continuously upload the latest patient information from the hospital level to the national database, ensuring up-to-the-second accuracy.

Data Privacy and Security:

In this new system, the patient controls access to their health records, ensuring data privacy. The data in the national EHR database is anonymized until a patient provides the key. This approach aims to balance the need for comprehensive, real-time medical information with the imperative of data security and privacy.

Benefits for Public Health:

This unified system will also significantly benefit public health officials. For example, it will enable easy tracking of hospitalization rates for specific diseases like COVID-19 or the availability of hospital beds. The data would be available in real-time and would be anonymized to protect individual privacy.

User Empowerment and Real-Time Information:

Finally, Ellison points out that doctors will be armed with the most up-to-date information, allowing them to make better decisions. The system is designed to empower both healthcare providers and patients by providing instant, accurate data without compromising on security and privacy.

GPASS System:

Larry Ellison discusses the development of the GPASS system, created in partnership between Oracle and the University of Oxford. This system sequences the genes of COVID-19 variants, and was instrumental in early identification of significant variants like Omicron and Delta. The system aids public health officials by offering crucial early information on new variants, which is vital for modifying existing therapeutics and vaccines.

Broader Applications of GPASS:

The GPASS system is not limited to COVID-19. It aims to identify new variants of any virus, including influenza, enabling early and effective response measures.

Patient Engagement System:

Another innovation highlighted is the Patient Engagement System, a smartphone application developed by Oracle. It was initially used by the U.S. government during the pandemic to create a two-way communication channel between healthcare providers and patients. It enables users to share their experience and side-effects after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

V-safe and Vaccination in Pregnancy:

The system was also used in a program called V-safe, which collected user experiences related to COVID-19 vaccination. One significant outcome was the data collected from over 130,000 women who were unknowingly pregnant when vaccinated. This data, which showed no significant adverse effects, led to the U.S. regulators approving vaccines for pregnant women.

Wearable and Home Diagnostics:

The Patient Engagement System is evolving to integrate data from wearable and home diagnostic devices. For instance, post-surgery heart valve patients can now be monitored in real-time through data collected by their wearables, offering a more dynamic and responsive healthcare approach.

Cancer Treatment:

The system is also applicable in outpatient scenarios like cancer treatment. It enables patients to notify their doctors about symptoms or side-effects experienced after treatments like chemotherapy, allowing for real-time adjustments to therapeutics.

Overall, these advancements underscore the increasing role of technology in healthcare, offering promising tools for early diagnosis, real-time monitoring, and efficient response to public health crises.

Democratizing Clinical Trials:

Larry Ellison emphasizes that the Patient Engagement System can facilitate participation in clinical trials regardless of location. This means that individuals in rural areas can also contribute, resulting in a more diverse population for clinical studies.

Wellness Management:

Beyond clinical treatments, the Patient Engagement System is also designed for general wellness management. It handles tasks like scheduling appointments and telemedicine consultations, making it a comprehensive healthcare management tool.

Modernization of Cerner’s Millennium:

Ellison discusses Oracle’s collaboration with Cerner to enhance and modernize Millennium, Cerner’s core clinical system. The focus is on user experience, with the introduction of a voice user interface to simplify data access and order placements for healthcare providers.

Telemedicine & AI Modules:

The updated Millennium system will have an integrated telemedicine module that allows secure video consultations. Additionally, disease-specific AI modules can be added, making it an open and expandable system for medical professionals.

Integration with Clinical Trials:

To streamline research, Millennium will be integrated with clinical trials. This will expedite the entire process, as data can be collected and submitted automatically, reducing the time needed for regulatory approval.

IoT Network for Diagnostic Devices:

All diagnostic devices will be connected via a single Internet of Things (IoT) network. The data generated will be stored in a secure database used for machine learning applications, with a guarantee for data privacy.

Efficiency and Global Reach:

The new updates are aimed to make the system easier to use and more efficient, thus freeing doctors to spend more time with patients. The integration of clinical trials into the system also means that any hospital, whether in the U.S. or globally, can participate, diversifying the pool of clinical trial participants.

Speeding up Clinical Trials:

The system is engineered to automate the submission of information to regulators, significantly accelerating the pace of clinical trials. Ellison stresses the importance of diversity in these trials and states that this system enables that by broadening the participant base globally.

These updates represent a profound change in healthcare technology, emphasizing accessibility, efficiency, and global reach.

Complexities in Hospital Management:

Larry Ellison discusses the intricacies involved in managing hospitals, particularly concerning inventory and workforce. He points out that the distributed nature of hospital inventory, spanning medical supplies and drugs, makes it more challenging to manage than other enterprises.

Workforce Challenges:

According to Ellison, hospitals have one of the most complex workforces in the world. Doctors often work under multiple contracts at various institutions, which complicates scheduling, recruitment, and payment. Oracle aims to improve HR systems that can handle these complexities effectively.

Automating Regulatory and Financial Processes:

Hospitals are bound by extensive regulatory reporting and financial accounting obligations. Ellison states that Oracle is working on automating these tasks, saving time and ensuring compliance with regulations.

Oracle’s Dominance in ERP and HR:

Ellison highlights Oracle’s significant role in providing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Human Resources (HR) solutions in the healthcare sector. Oracle Fusion in the cloud is already widely used by prominent healthcare providers like Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.

Automating Provider-Payer Interactions:

Significant time is consumed in negotiations between healthcare providers and payers (typically insurance companies) for reimbursements. Oracle aims to automate this process, allowing doctors to focus more on patient care than on financial negotiations.

Enhanced HR Systems:

Oracle plans to advance its already robust HR systems to cater to the unique needs of healthcare workforce management. This includes contract negotiations, workforce scheduling, and benefits disbursement, among other things.

Comprehensive Financial Planning:

Ellison states that Oracle’s expertise in supply chain management and human resources will further be enhanced to automate compliance reporting and offer a complete set of financial accounting tools to hospitals.

Oracle’s New Primary Mission:

The concluding note is that Oracle’s primary mission has now shifted to enhancing healthcare management systems. This, Ellison claims, will improve patient outcomes, assist healthcare professionals, and contribute to effective public health policy, while also lowering overall costs.

Ellison’s presentation outlines Oracle’s strategy to make hospital operations more efficient, leveraging their expertise in ERP, HR, and cloud solutions.