Optum and Mayo Clinic started a new joint venture, Optum Labs, aiming to improve the quality of long- term patient care.
Both parties will provide information assets, technologies, knowledge tools and scientific expertise to related organizations to solve patient care challenges, according to a press release.
"Our strategic research alliance with Optum Labs will leverage what we believe to be the largest combined source of clinical and claims information, providing a more comprehensive picture of patients’ diagnoses, progression of diseases, comparative treatments and outcomes," Mayo Clinic president & CEO John Noseworthy said in prepared remarks.
The Mayo Clinic, the world’s 1st and largest integrated non-profit medical group, will guide the lab’s research agenda and apply the research results and insights to the patient care environment, according to the release. The Optum Labs participants includes academic institutions, life sciences companies, commercial and government payers.
Optum Labs will support patient care improvements in areas such as finding optimal treatments and understanding variations in care, as well as evaluating the effective of care, according to the press release.
Some scientists in the lab are working to find the best treatments for the serious blood cancer chronic myelogenous leukemia, some are developing applications to reduce cost of medical devices. Some of them are also trying to improve the diagnosis of Hepatitis C, the company said.
The lab willl also help the health care industry better define value through outcomes instead of volumes, the company said.
