Episode 116: Hooking Up Healthcare Innovators and Customers with Laurance Stuntz from the Massachusetts eHealth Institute

Laurance Stuntz is the Director of the Massachusetts eHealth Institute at MassTech, or MeHI. He is an experienced and passionate leader working to help Massachusetts leverage digital health innovation for better economic and care delivery outcomes. MeHI is a division of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a unique state agency working to support innovation economy growth. MeHI is the Commonwealth's entity for health care innovation, technology, and competitiveness, and partners with industry, government, and healthcare organizations to support the Massachusetts Digital Health Initiative on behalf of Governor Charlie Baker. MeHI also helps all the Commonwealth's providers harness the benefits of electronic health records and the statewide health information exchange. As part of this effort, they work with stakeholders to ensure that patients have access to their data and become active and engaged participants in managing their health. For more information, please visit www.mehi.masstech.org. Prior to joining MeHI in 2012, Laurance worked for 25 years in healthcare information technology product development, systems integration and management consulting, primarily focused on collaboration and exchange of information among healthcare organizations. He was a Partner at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) with responsibility for CSC's Collaborative Communities solution area and the Senior Vice President responsible for product development for NaviNet. Laurance is an advocate for stronger patient engagement in healthcare information and decision making, and serves as a member of the Massachusetts Health Information Technology Council. He is a Dartmouth College graduate, a Wellesley resident, and an enthusiast of outdoor sports, craft beer, and his family. You can find Laurance online at @lstuntz. 00:00 Massachusetts eHealth Institute - Laurance gives some background. 03:00 Taking advantage of what Mass eHealth has to offer. 06:10 What the market place is 'crying out for.' 06:40 Trying to identify and engage with consumers. 09:20 The interest in technology that will support healthy aging. 09:30 "Where does healthcare end and a consumer product begin?" 12:30 The challenge of agreeing on the cause of readmission, and how an innovator navigates these ideas. 16:50 Designing programs to support innovation programs. 18:40 Making sure companies have a realistic view of their maturity level and what it will take to engage with a provider organization. 21:00 "What is it going to take to sign a data use agreement with a large institution?" 22:45 Pinning down a consistent agreement for innovators. 23:30 What success looks like for a healthcare innovator. 25:00 Laurance's advice for finding a good problem to solve as an innovator. 27:40 You can find out more at massdigitalhealth.org and mehi.masstech.org.