Blog
Log In
Contact us

Tag: healthcare

Categories
Featured News

OMNY Health Adds More Than 300 Health Measures to Enhance Disease Progression Research and Treatment Monitoring

The Company Now Offers Insights Across Ten Specialty Areas, Including Dermatology, Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Autoimmune, Gastroenterology, and Neurology

ATLANTA – May 8, 2025 – OMNY Health, the leading healthcare ecosystem for compliant real-world data insights at scale, today announced it has expanded its data network by adding more than 300 clinical assessment measures. These disease-specific measures include information derived from clinical severity indicators, surveys, and questionnaires, such as the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and the Harvey Bradshaw index for Gastroenterology, as well as the Asthma Control Test and COPD Assessment Test (CAT) for Respiratory. These measures provide a more granular, real-world view of patient health, enhancing the ability to monitor disease progression and treatment impact.

The new measures incorporate data extracted and curated from structured and unstructured sources within OMNY Health’s extensive data pool of electronic health records (EHRs) to enhance the research and insights into medical specialties such as respiratory, cardiovascular, autoimmune, gastroenterology, neurology, and oncology. Adding these new pan-therapeutic measures builds on OMNY Health’s successful data strategy in dermatology, where it first demonstrated the value of leveraging disease-specific measures.

“For some time, OMNY Health has been seen as a dermatology data network, but with our network growth, we are moving beyond that and demonstrating the value of our solutions to the broader healthcare community,” said Dr. Mitesh Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of OMNY Health. “By leveling up research and making more information available across multiple specialties, OMNY Health enables teams to fill information gaps, accelerate research timelines, and make meaningful improvements to patient care.”

OMNY Health’s curated measures offering includes data on:

  • Longitudinal disease progression, flare-ups, and treatment responses for conditions such as asthma, COPD, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis
  • Real-world evidence on risk factors, medication adherence, and patient outcomes for conditions like heart failure and hypertension
  • Post-surgical recovery tracking, rehabilitation outcomes, and treatment effectiveness for various conditions

By capturing a broader range of clinical information across a larger and diverse set of provider organizations, OMNY Health’s measures provide deeper and more representative insights than traditional disease-specific registries, positioning the company as a go-to source for researchers seeking information and data.

“Democratizing access to longitudinal data that has both breadth and depth has been a longstanding challenge for healthcare researchers like myself,” said Dr. T. Y. Alvin Liu, Inaugural Director of the James P. Gills Jr. MD and Heather Gills Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “As AI begins to leave its mark on the healthcare industry, these new measures from OMNY come at a pivotal time, guaranteeing the highest quality of data to researchers and actionable information to healthcare executives. By taking previously untapped data sources and turning them into resources for better care, we can provide more precise and accurate treatments to patients across care specialties and unparalleled insights for executives to make decisions on a system level.”

OMNY Health’s release of more than 300 new health measures to its data ecosystem follows the company’s announcement in March of the availability of  4 billion unstructured clinical notes. This enabled the company to support its customers in unlocking previously hidden insights, which will drive a better understanding of patient journeys and unleash new innovations in treatment options. For more information on OMNY Health and its data ecosystem, please visit www.omnyhealth.com.

About OMNY Health

OMNY Health™ is a national data ecosystem connecting the world of healthcare to fuel partnerships that improve clinical outcomes and drive patient care. OMNY’s dynamic partnerships with specialty health networks, hospitals, academic medical centers, and integrated delivery networks span all fifty states and cover over 85 million patient lives. The company’s comprehensive data layer powers health tech companies to drive the next generation of innovation. The platform serves as a centralized resource for life sciences and healthcare provider groups to facilitate mutually-beneficial data sharing and research collaboration at scale, fueling innovation where patients need it the most. OMNY Health’s data network now reflects more than eight years of historical data encompassing more than 4 billion clinical notes from 1 billion encounters, 500,000+ providers across 200+ specialties – and is growing. To learn more about how OMNY Health transforms lives and drives patient care by connecting providers and life sciences companies through data, visit www.omnyhealth.com.

Media Contact

SolComms

Caroline Rueve

OMNY@solcomms.co

847-609-4055

Categories
News

OMNY Health Becomes the First EHR Dataset Available on Datavant Connect Powered by AWS Clean Rooms

OMNY Health, the leading healthcare ecosystem for compliant real-world data insights at scale, today announced it has become the first electronic health record (EHR) company to offer its real world data (RWD) dataset on Datavant Connect powered by AWS Clean Rooms through its Lighthouse Partner Program.

Categories
Product

From Symptom to Strategy: What Itch Intensity Data Tells Us About Pruritus Management

Pruritus, or chronic itch, is one of the most common symptoms reported in dermatology, yet real-world treatment patterns remain poorly characterized. While topical therapies are typically the first-line approach, severe cases often require systemic interventions. But how do clinicians determine when to escalate therapy? OMNY Health conducted a real-world evidence study leveraging research-ready EHR data from six specialty dermatology networks to examine how itch intensity, a critical but underutilized measure, influences real-world prescribing patterns. By integrating structured and unstructured clinical data, OMNY provides new insights into the relationship between symptom severity and treatment decisions.

Quantifying Pruritus Severity in Real-World Data 

While pruritus is a symptom, its severity can significantly impact quality of life and treatment choices. This study focused on patients with a documented 10-point itch intensity score, captured through physician assessments and patient-reported outcomes. The dataset included 7,330 patients with 8,115 encounters, capturing the following structured severity measures:

  • Itch intensity scores (0-10 scale) recorded alongside pruritus-related encounters. 
  • Pruritus-related prescriptions categorized into topical and systemic treatments. 
  • Demographic characteristics, including age, gender, and race, to understand patient stratification. 
  • Treatment patterns by disease severity, assessing whether increasing itch intensity influenced therapy selection. 

By leveraging EHR-derived severity assessments, the study provides a more granular understanding of how treatment decisions align with symptom burden.

How Itch Intensity Drives Treatment Decisions

Findings revealed a clear relationship between itch severity and systemic therapy use, while topical therapies were prescribed at consistent rates across all levels of severity.

  • Topical corticosteroids were the most prescribed treatment, used in nearly half of all pruritus-related visits, regardless of itch intensity. 
  • Topical calcineurin inhibitors were prescribed far less frequently, at around 10% of cases, with minimal use of alternative topical therapies. 
  • Systemic therapy prescriptions increased as itch severity worsened, with sedative antihistamines emerging as the most commonly used option. 
  • Prescription rates for sedative antihistamines climbed from 13% in mild cases to 26% in severe cases, while other systemic treatments—including non-sedative antihistamines, systemic doxepin, SSRIs, and opioid receptor antagonists—were prescribed far less frequently. 

The increasing use of sedative antihistamines in severe cases suggests a reliance on limited systemic options, leaving a gap in alternative therapies for patients with refractory pruritus.

Why Itch Intensity Matters for Clinical and Research Applications

The underutilization of structured itch severity scores in real-world studies has historically limited the ability to quantify treatment impact. Our findings reinforce why itch intensity should be a standard measure in both clinical decision-making and drug development. For clinicians, understanding real-world prescribing trends tied to symptom severity can optimize treatment pathways and inform escalation decisions. For researchers and trial sponsors, itch intensity scores provide an opportunity to refine patient segmentation, support cohort identification, and assess real-world treatment responses. For drug developers, the limited use of alternative systemic therapies highlights a need for novel treatments, particularly for patients with refractory pruritus.

Advancing Dermatology Research with Real-World Data

This EHR-based study provides new insights into how structured itch intensity measures correlate with real-world prescribing behavior. By integrating structured severity assessments with prescribing data, OMNY Health’s research-ready datasets offer a unique lens into treatment trends, patient stratification, and disease burden.

Categories
Product

Advancing SDoH research with unstructured clinical notes to improve patient care

Every patient’s story extends beyond structured medical records. Social determinants of health (SDoH), such as economic insecurity, often go unrecorded in traditional coding systems, leaving critical gaps in understanding patient needs. A recent study utilizing OMNY Health’s real-world data platform showcases the power of unstructured clinical notes in identifying financial hardship among psoriasis patients—insights that structured EHR data alone did not capture. 

Leveraging NLP to Extract Real-World Patient Challenges 

The OMNY Health Platform was used to access electronic health record (EHR) data for patients with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes related to economic insecurity. These codes, outlined in Table 1, include classifications for financial instability, lack of adequate food and safe drinking water, extreme poverty, low income, and material hardship. However, structured data alone failed to capture the full scope of patient struggles. 

By applying natural language processing (NLP) to unstructured clinical notes from five specialty dermatology networks (2017-2019), researchers uncovered 686 patients with financial hardship indicators that would have otherwise gone undetected. These were patients whose struggles—such as insurance challenges, difficulty affording medications, and financial stress impacting care decisions—were only documented in free-text notes, never coded in structured fields. 

At a probability threshold of 0.91, the model achieved a 91% precision rate, though manual review found that 60% of flagged sentences were true positives. This highlights the need for continued refinement while demonstrating how clinical notes provide deeper, more patient-centric insights than structured data alone. 

What Structured Data Misses: A Holistic Approach to SDoH 

Traditional structured EHR data often fails to capture the full scope of social determinants of health (SDoH), creating critical blind spots in patient care. Many healthcare decisions—such as delaying treatments, switching medications, or discontinuing care altogether—are influenced by social and financial challenges that remain undocumented in structured records. 

For example, economic insecurity is a major yet often invisible factor shaping healthcare journeys. By analyzing clinical notes, researchers have identified patients facing financial hardship that was not reflected in coded data, underscoring the need for a more comprehensive approach to SDoH research. But financial instability is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.  

OMNY Health’s dataset goes beyond economic hardship, capturing a wide range of social determinants that impact health outcomes, including:   

  • Housing Instability – Identifying patients experiencing homelessness or frequent relocations that may affect continuity of care. 
  • Food Insecurity – Detecting concerns related to nutritional deficiencies and limited access to healthy food.  
  • Transportation Barriers – Recognizing challenges patients face in accessing healthcare facilities. 
  • Education and Health Literacy – Understanding how limited education levels influence patient adherence and treatment outcomes. 
  • Social Support and Caregiver Burdens – Capturing notes related to lack of family or community support, impacting long-term disease management. 

By incorporating unstructured clinical notes into SDoH research, OMNY Health’s data helps: 

  • Identify at-risk patients who may otherwise be invisible in structured records. 
  • Support more effective intervention strategies tailored to individual social challenges.   
  • Enhance real-world evidence (RWE) generation to guide healthcare policy and decision-making. 

As healthcare organizations seek to advance health equity, leveraging unstructured data provides a more complete view of patient experiences—ensuring that social determinants are not just acknowledged, but actively addressed in care strategies and policy development. 

Expanding the Impact of Unstructured Data  

This study is just the beginning. Researchers are expanding NLP-driven approaches to explore other SDoH domains, including housing instability and undereducation. With continued model refinement, these insights will help healthcare providers, researchers, and policymakers gain a more complete understanding of patient experiences beyond structured EHR limitations. 

As healthcare shifts toward patient-centered solutions, unstructured clinical notes will be key to closing critical data gaps. The ability to capture these hidden patient struggles has the potential to transform care delivery and research.

Categories
Product

Why Clinical Measures Matter: Linking Disease Activity to Treatment Decisions in Actinic Keratosis

In dermatology, real-world data plays a crucial role in understanding disease progression and optimizing treatment strategies. Actinic keratosis (AK), a common precancerous skin condition, requires tailored management approaches based on disease severity. OMNY Health’s vast dermatology dataset provides new insights into AK treatment patterns by leveraging structured electronic health records, including lesion count and patient-reported pain scores.

Measuring Disease Activity: A Data-Driven Approach

One of the unique aspects of OMNY Health’s dataset is the inclusion of real-world AK disease activity measures. Traditionally, treatment decisions for AK have been guided by lesion count, but OMNY’s data also incorporates pain scores using the 0-10 Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). This dual-measure approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of how AK severity impacts treatment decisions.

Linking Disease Severity to Treatment Patterns

Analyzing data from six specialty dermatology networks within the OMNY Health platform (2017-2024), researchers examined how lesion count and pain VAS influence real-world treatment strategies. The study included 334,410 patients with 704,665 assessments, highlighting distinct trends in treatment selection.

Key findings include:

  • Fluorouracil prescriptions increased with lesion count but decreased with pain severity. 
  • Lesion destruction procedures (e.g., cryosurgery, electrosurgery) and photodynamic therapy became more common as pain scores increased. 
  • Treatment approaches remained relatively stable across different lesion counts, suggesting that pain level plays a more significant role in guiding intervention choices. 

Clinical Implications: The Power of Real-World Dermatology Data

These findings emphasize the value of structured EHR measures in refining dermatological treatment strategies. By incorporating both lesion count and pain VAS, OMNY Health’s dataset enables providers and researchers to:

  • Identify patterns in real-world clinical decision-making. 
  • Optimize treatment plans based on both physical disease burden and patient-reported symptoms. 
  • Treatment approaches remained relatively stable across different lesion counts, suggesting that pain level plays a more significant role in guiding intervention choices. 

Next Steps: Expanding Real-World Evidence in Dermatology

OMNY Health continues to enhance its dermatology RWD offerings by integrating unstructured clinical notes and refining disease activity metrics. Future analyses could leverage clinical notes to provide richer insights into treatment rationale and long-term outcomes.

As dermatology evolves, real-world evidence will be essential in bridging the gap between clinical research and everyday patient care. OMNY Health’s commitment to data-driven insights ensures that providers have access to the most comprehensive, research-ready EHR datasets to inform their decisions.

Categories
Product

OMNY Health Achieves HITRUST e1 Certification: A Milestone in Healthcare Data Security

We at OMNY Health are thrilled to announce that the OMNY Health Platform has successfully achieved HITRUST e1 Certification, a landmark achievement in our ongoing commitment to foundational cybersecurity controls and information risk management in healthcare. 

HITRUST e1 Certification focuses on foundational cybersecurity and the most critical set of controls for essential cybersecurity hygiene. This certification demonstrates that OMNY’s Ecosystem Platform has a comprehensive set of rigorous controls and best practices in place for essential for cybersecurity hygiene and protecting sensitive information. 

“The HITRUST e1 Validated Assessment is a good tool for cyber-aware organizations like OMNY HEALTH that want to build assurances and progressively demonstrate due diligence around information security and privacy,” said Robert Booker, Chief Strategy Officer at HITRUST. “We applaud OMNY HEALTH for their commitment to cybersecurity and successful completion of their HITRUST e1 Certification.” 

Achieving HITRUST Certification is no small feat. It represents countless hours of hard work, meticulous attention to detail, and an unwavering commitment to excellence from our entire team. This certification validates our robust approach to data security and privacy, covering 19 domains of information security. 

“The HITRUST e1Certification is more than just a badge of honor – it’s a rigorous, comprehensive validation of our security practices,” said Dr. Maik Lindner, OMNY’s Chief Information Security Officer.  “This achievement demonstrates that we’ve implemented a robust set of controls that meet the unique challenges of protecting sensitive healthcare data. It’s a reflection of our proactive approach to security and our commitment to staying ahead of evolving cyber threats in the healthcare industry.” 

For our health system partners, the HITRUST Certification of our platform offers several key benefits:

  • Enhanced Trust: You can be confident that your data is protected by security measures that meet or exceed industry standards.
  • Simplified Compliance: Our certification helps streamline your compliance efforts, particularly with regulations like HIPAA. 
  • Reduced Risk: With our certified security framework, the risk of data breaches and associated costs is significantly reduced.
  • Improved Interoperability: Our certification enhances our ability to securely share and process data across the healthcare ecosystem.

“Achieving HITRUST certification is a testament to our unwavering commitment to data security and privacy in healthcare. This milestone reflects the dedication of our entire team and reinforces our position as a trusted partner in the healthcare data ecosystem. We’re proud to offer our health system partners the highest level of assurance in data protection, allowing them to focus on what matters most – improving patient outcomes,” said Dr. Mitesh Rao, CEO. 

At OMNY, we view this certification not as a final destination, but as a milestone in our ongoing journey of excellence. We are committed to:

  • Continuously improving our security measures 
  • Staying ahead of emerging threats in the digital healthcare landscape
  • Providing our partners with the highest level of data protection 

As we celebrate this achievement, we want to thank our dedicated team and our valued partners for their trust and support. We look forward to continuing our mission of advancing healthcare through secure, innovative data solutions.

Categories
Product

Does Implant Design Matter? Studying Total Knee Arthroplasty in Clinical RWD

Knee replacement surgery has advanced significantly over the years, with innovations in implant design aimed at improving patient mobility and long-term outcomes. However, when it comes to single-radius (SR) vs. multi-radius (MR) femoral implants, how much of an impact does design really have on patient recovery and healthcare utilization? While clinical trials provide controlled comparisons, real-world evidence offers a broader perspective on outcomes across diverse patient populations. 

 To better assess these differences, OMNY Health analyzed real-world data from its orthopedic-focused medtech dataset, evaluating clinical, functional, and economic outcomes in TKA patients. 

Comparing Implant Design in Real-World Settings

This study leveraged data from the OMNY Health Medical Device Database (2017-2021), examining 1,464 patients who underwent unilateral TKA. Patients were categorized into SR (N=1,135) and MR (N=329) cohorts, allowing for direct comparisons of key outcomes.

bar chart showing demographic characteristics among patients with sickle cell

Patient Demographics:

  • Most patients were born between the 1950s and 1960s (SR: 59%, MR: 57%). 
  • Women accounted for the majority of cases (SR: 63%, MR: 70%). 
  • The SR cohort had a higher proportion of White patients (85%) compared to the MR cohort (75%). 
  • More MR patients underwent outpatient procedures (53%) compared to SR patients (43%). 

Key Findings: Minimal Differences Between Implant Designs 

Despite prior speculation that implant design could significantly impact outcomes, this real-world analysis found that SR and MR implants performed similarly across key measures. 

bar chart showing demographic characteristics among patients with sickle cell

Clinical Outcomes: 

  • Mortality rates were low in both cohorts (SR: 1.1%, MR: 0.3%). 
  • Postoperative knee pain was reported at comparable rates (SR: 0.6%, MR: 1.2%). 
  • Implant removal was rare, with no significant difference observed (SR: 0.4%, MR: 0.0%). 

Functional Outcomes: 

  • Non-routine discharge disposition (NRDD) rates were identical (SR: 16.4%, MR: 16.4%), suggesting that implant design did not influence post-surgical mobility. 

Economic & Utilization Outcomes:

  • Length of stay (LOS) was similar across groups (SR: 0.98 days, MR: 0.96 days).
  • Gross charges were slightly higher for SR patients (Median: $43,879 vs. $39,255 for MR), though differences may be driven by factors beyond implant design.

What This Means for Clinical Decision-Making 

The findings suggest that implant design alone does not significantly impact clinical or functional outcomes in TKA patients. Instead, factors such as surgical technique, rehabilitation protocols, and patient-specific factors play a more substantial role in determining recovery and long-term success.

For healthcare providers and medtech companies, these results highlight the value of real-world data in refining orthopedic product development and post-market surveillance. While MR designs have been thought to provide more natural knee movement, this study suggests that real-world functional outcomes do not differ significantly between SR and MR implants.  

Additionally, the slight difference in cost between implant types warrants further investigation to determine cost-effectiveness in value-based care models.

The Role of Real-World Data in Orthopedic Research

By integrating structured EHR data with curated clinical measures, OMNY Health provides real-world insights into medical device performance. This data-driven approach enables:

  • Comparisons of implant designs and surgical techniques to refine best practices. 
  • Better understanding of patient recovery patterns and healthcare utilization. 
  • Support for evidence-based decision-making to optimize orthopedic device selection and patient outcomes.

With orthopedics as a key therapeutic area for medtech innovation, leveraging real-world evidence is essential for ensuring high-quality, cost-effective decision-making in TKA and beyond.

Categories
Product

Unlocking Real-World Insights into IBD Treatment: The Power of Clinical EHR and Physician Notes Integration

At OMNY Health, we believe that unlocking the full potential of healthcare data means going beyond structured fields in Electronic Health Records (EHRs). By combining EHR data with unstructured clinical notes, we can uncover insights that truly reflect the complexities of patient care—insights that are often hidden in claims or EHR data alone.

Our recent study on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) treatment patterns highlights the unique value of integrating EHR data with clinical notes. Using Large Language Models (LLMs), we analyzed over 10.6 million clinical notes from our health systems to explore why IBD patients switch or discontinue biologic treatments. This approach gave us a comprehensive, real-world view of treatment decisions. We identified 7 distinct reasons for treatment alteration across 7 biologics.

Key Findings: Uncovering the Real Reasons for Treatment Changes

While traditional EHRs track structured data like medication prescriptions and diagnoses, they often miss the “why” behind treatment decisions. Our study revealed seven key reasons why biologic treatments are altered, based on unstructured notes that provide deeper context:

  • Adverse Drug Events (16-28%)
  • Finance-Related Reasons (4-24%)
  • Patient-Related Factors (2-9%)
  • Lack of Efficacy (1-14%)
  • Symptom Resolution (1-4%)
  • Drug-Disease Interactions (1-3%)
  • Obstetric Concerns (0-2%)

Figure 1. Reasons for Biologic Switching in IBD

BiologicAdverse Drug Event (%)Drug-Disease Interaction (%)Symptom Resolution (%)Finance Related (%)Patient Related (%)Not Effective (%)Obstetric (%)
Infliximab28.261.922.8724.428.6214.370.48
Adalimumab26.822.871.4412.938.142.871.92
Golimumab0.9600.481.440.4800
Certolizumab1.92000.96000
Vedolizumab16.280.964.317.186.701.441.92
Ustekinumab11.010.4803.832.3900
Risankizumab0.960000.4800

Transforming IBD Care: From Data to Insight

By analyzing clinical notes, OMNY Health’s AI models identified reasons for treatment alterations with 94.5% accuracy. This level of insight isn’t typically captured in structured EHR fields, and it has significant implications for improving patient care.

Understanding the real-world reasons behind treatment changes is essential for refining treatment strategies, improving adherence, and ultimately achieving better patient outcomes. For IBD patients, this means more personalized care tailored to their unique circumstances—whether that’s a financial hurdle, an adverse drug reaction, or a need for a more effective therapy.

The Future of Healthcare Data: A New Era of Personalized Care

At OMNY Health, we’re excited about the future of healthcare data. By integrating EHRs with unstructured clinical notes and leveraging the power of AI, we can identify patterns that were previously overlooked. This approach not only improves our understanding of IBD treatment but also has the potential to transform how we approach care across a wide range of conditions.

Categories
News

GPP Flares Linked to Increased Hospitalizations, Health Care Costs, Study Finds

Categories
News

OMNY Health and Scipher Medicine Partner to Revolutionize Autoimmune Disease Treatment with Clinico-Transcriptomics Data