HealthVerity launches Provider Diversity Index to accelerate recruitment of minority groups into clinical trials

Index supports Pharmaceutical manufacturers seeking to conduct clinical trials with populations that better align with nation's racial diversity

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HealthVerity

Aug 26, 2020, 06:30 ET

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthVerity, the leader in privacy-protected data exchange, today expanded its commitment to advancing racial and ethnic diversity and inclusion in clinical trials with the launch of the "Provider Diversity Index." With more than 330 million patients and the vast majority of US healthcare providers represented in the nation's largest healthcare data ecosystem, HealthVerity is enabling pharmaceutical manufacturers and contract research organizations (CROs) with the ability to assess the ethnic and racial mix of patients under the care of each provider. With insights into which providers care for more diverse patient populations, CROs can redirect their efforts to attract trial cohorts that more closely mirror those that the intended therapy will treat and best reflect the optimal mix of patient participation.

Following new guidelines from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the recent attention garnered by limited racial diversity in ongoing COVID-19 trials, the urgency around this subject has never been greater. Recommendations on how to resolve the inequalities in representation have yielded traditional calls for broadening eligibility criteria, conducting more inclusive virtual trials and reconsidering various trial designs, yet all of these initiatives still require access to diverse populations from which to recruit. Powered by HealthVerity Marketplace, the Provider Diversity Index represents an entirely new approach to patient recruitment by establishing HIPAA-compliant measures for each physician that broadly reflect the demographic make-up of their patients in a privacy-protecting manner. The index thus enables CROs to better balance recruiting efforts by working with physicians who are best positioned to inform, educate and attract the optimal mix of clinical trial subjects.

"The global race to develop an effective vaccine against COVID-19 provides a stark reminder of the need to ensure diversity across clinical trials or we risk developing clinical knowledge that is not generalizable," said Andrew Kress, CEO HealthVerity. "In the case of clinical trial recruitment, it's no longer just a matter of basic integrity, but a true healthcare crisis to not build out populations that represent the patients for which a new or existing therapy is meant to treat. By leveraging our privacy-protecting technology across a vast healthcare data ecosystem assembled to solve issues just like this, HealthVerity can ease the burden for Pharma manufacturers and CROs who need to adapt to current demands."

The Provider Diversity Index is a logical next step following HealthVerity's previously announced relationship with FDA to support COVID-19 clinical study and treatment opportunities. Furthermore, FDA has been more aggressively encouraging sponsor companies to include historically underserved populations in clinical trials since the issuance of draft guidance in June 2019. As such, the Provider Diversity Index is expected to have a profound impact on the industry's effort to enhance participation and to improve the efficacy of new drugs across the broadest possible patient set.

To learn more about the Provider Diversity Index, contact [email protected].

About HealthVerity
Powering the largest healthcare and consumer data ecosystem, combined with best-in-class management and privacy solutions, HealthVerity is helping answer healthcare's most critical questions. Our technology platform serves as the foundation for the rapid creation, exchange and management of healthcare and consumer data in a fully interoperable privacy-protecting manner. Advantaged by highly sophisticated identity resolution and matching capabilities, HealthVerity is on a mission to increase transparency, forge interoperability and activate deeper insights. To learn more about HealthVerity's technology platform, visit www.healthverity.com.

Contact:
Abigail Stockwell
Senior Director of Marketing, HealthVerity
[email protected]
856.562.7413

SOURCE HealthVerity