Datavant’s Health Data Link acquisition brings together ‘siloed’ worlds
Health Data Link, which links research data to private data networks for data governance, will join Datavant. Following the acquisition, Datavant will have the capability to connect a variety of data types to its clients in health systems, research institutes, and government agencies.
Datavant’s existing ecosystem of more than 200 institutions will be integrated with data from the 40 institutions that use Health Data Link’s connectivity solution, to support medical research. Health Data Link’s clients will be able to link their data with other data sources in Datavant’s ecosystem, including medical and pharmacy claims, electronic health records (EHR), and diagnostic lab data.
A spokesperson for Datavant told us, “The acquisition puts Datavant in a position to bring together two worlds that have traditionally been siloed, the academic and the commercial. Much of this proprietary health system data has never been meaningfully used, to the detriment of patients.”
The Datavant spokesperson further explained that the data from Health Data Link will become part of its ecosystem but the company will practice “source control,” so each source will be able to choose the circumstances under which they would make data available to specific user.Jacob Plummer, CEO of Health Data Link said in a statement, “Bringing health data together without compromising patient privacy is the defining health policy issue of our time. Together, we can make integrated health data a reality, which means better research, better care, and improved outcomes.”
Per this acquisition, Plummer, will join Datavant as general manager of health systems and government and Jasmin Phua, the co-founder and chief data officer of Health Data Link will serve as the head of health systems and government solutions at Datavant.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
