Hacking Healthcare: Unleashing the Power of Human Data
A chat with Brian Powell, the VP of Engineering at Strap
Healthcare innovation is at an all time high. 2014 had record breaking investments in digital health, and 2015 is keeping pace. According to Rock Health’s mid-year report, investments in this space are growing faster than venture funding overall for the second year in a row.
Despite all of the noise in the healthtech world, we’re at a crossroads. Software is eating the world, as Marc Andreessen noted years ago, but healthcare is still lagging behind for a variety of reasons — expensive, legacy systems, a difficult regulatory environment, or the simple fact that people don’t always do what’s best for them.
At BaseHealth, we believe that the developers and engineers behind today’s most promising technology are the ones who will forge the road ahead, invent new solutions to legacy problems, improve the healthcare experience, and ultimately create a healthier future.
That’s why we are starting this series — to recognize and celebrate the people who are making healthcare better via behind-the-scenes innovation. We are giving healthcare developers the spotlight they deserve.
We are introducing the series with an interview we did with Brian Powell, VP of Engineering at Strap, the world’s first human analytics and integration platform for marketers.
Brian has over 12 years of emerging technology experience. He loves to build solutions that push the bounds of conceptualization and implementation. His experience includes cloud platforms and mobile/television/desktop/web applications — including design, development, strategy, product management, and sales. His portfolio includes projects with Samsung, LG, NBA, AT&T Interactive, McGraw Hill, Belo Corp, Vimeo, Vizio, the United Way, and many more. You can follow him on Twitter at @bgpowell.
What are you working on right now that you think will have the biggest impact on how we think about technology and wearables?
I am currently leading the development team at Strap. We are focused on building a platform that provides advanced analytics and insights into the data coming from numerous wearable platforms. We are leveraging activity, body, food, and sleep data to build a solution that helps to make accessing and utilizing the information very easy. At Strap, we view “human data” as a critical link in making the world a more personal place. The work Strap is doing to bring the fragmented wearable data sources together into a single solution is vital for allowing developers to utilize the information is ways that world has not seen.
Human data is a brand new stream of information that is real-time, personal, and detailed. Strap takes these data streams and enhances their utility by layering behavioral analytics/insights, actionable triggering, and segmentation capabilities. Our work is leading to new data approaches, behavioral insights, and real-time communication opportunities.
How will data and privacy issues evolve or change as healthcare continues to innovate?
Privacy is a huge concern. The market must keep control of the data in the users’ hands. They need to be able to securely and easily manage the outlets and entities that are able to access their information. In order to give users control over their data, the market must look at ways to progressively protect their information while making it easier for the market to innovate.
The two paths do not run in opposite directions. Healthcare needs the information to innovate, but they must also be good stewards of the information.
Without the access to the information, the rate of innovation will be slowed. However the sensitivity of the information will require the users’ trust to share these emerging data sources. A core piece of the Strap platform, is the ability for our users to control access to their information. We make it a simple click and confirm to remove access — it must be this way across all accessing entities in order for data control to remain in users’ hands.
How will APIs transform the healthcare industry?
APIs are the key to data access and innovation. The ability for the market to “mash” data sources that are available from the growing number of APIs is the key for market innovation. The ability to pull data sources and build services that bring together various data types is an amazing opportunity — not just in healthcare, but across a lot of industries.
I am working on my API, Strap. Strap is providing a connection point for the fragmented wearable, food, and health data sources. By pulling these data sources together, normalizing the data, and providing deep data analytic capabilities, Strap is working to unleash the power of human data.
Want to be featured in our developer spotlight next? Leave a comment about the work you’re doing in the comments below or gives us a shoutout @BaseHealth. We can’t wait to hear from you!
