Kentucky ACO Contracts Microsoft for Data Mining

Norton Healthcare has entered into an agreement with Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.) to use its health solutions platforms, Microsoft Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) and Microsoft HealthVault. These systems will allow Norton Healthcare to aggregate and mine data in a highly efficient manner and will assist the Louisville, Ky.-based healthcare system in its Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiative.

Norton Healthcare and Humana Inc. are working together to establish the first ACO in the region, which represents one of four national pilot sites for the Brookings-Dartmouth ACO Pilot Project. The ACO model Norton and Humana are co-creating establishes incentives for health systems to increase quality and efficiency, better coordinate patient care, eliminate waste and reduce the overuse and misuse of care.

Microsoft Amalga UIS, a data aggregation platform, will play a critical role in enabling Norton Healthcare to rapidly gain longitudinal, person-centric, and population views of patient data stored across multiple sites and providers, a key element of the ACO pilot. The ability to view a broad set of individual and population patient data will enable the ACO to identify ways to improve the quality of care, improve care coordination across the community and reduce costs.