Last January, Governor Charlie Baker launched the Digital Health Initiative in Massachusetts www.massdigitalhealth.org to establish a public-private partnership to build a more connected digital health ecosystem across the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth is one of the strongest digital health clusters among all of the other states. Digital health is achieving strength since the state provides access to venture capital investment, has high insurance coverage, provides access to academic and research medical centers that receive top research funding from NIH, has highly developed medical device, biotechnology, and life science sectors, plus the fact that the state experiences high EHR penetration.
To further expand digital health, on November 22, 2016, the Governor created the Digital Healthcare Council http://MassdigitalHealth.org a public-private partnership to advise the administration on the future of the Commonwealth’s digital healthcare industry.
This initiative is led by collaborative organizations from both the public and private sectors, including the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP) www.masscompetes.org, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) www.mass.gov/hed, Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) www.mass.gov/eohhs, and the Massachusetts eHealth Institute http://mehi.masstech.org, City of Boston MassChallenge http://masschallenge.org, and TechSpring www.techspringhealth.org.
The Council includes leaders with backgrounds in technology, healthcare delivery, insurance, medical devices, life sciences, academia, and government. Discussions at Council meetings will concentrate on how new digital technologies can be used to improve healthcare in the Commonwealth, grow jobs, and reduce healthcare costs.
The Council will be Co-Chaired by Katie Stebbins, Assistant Secretary of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at EOHED and Dr. Jeffrey Leiden, Chairman, President and CEO of Boston-based Vertex www.vrtx.com.