Introducing Graphite: Transforming Digital Health Together

Graphite Health, a member-led company intent on transforming digital health care to improve patient outcomes and lower costs, launched today and announced its first three organizing members, SSM Health, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and Intermountain Healthcare. Modeled on Civica Rx, a health utility company, Graphite Health will focus on health care interoperability challenges.

Building on a common data language, Graphite Health is creating a standardized, interoperable data platform that enables a secure and open marketplace to streamline the distribution of digital health solutions for both health systems and entrepreneurs. For entrepreneurs, the common data language addresses inefficiencies in data translation and supports the development of plug-and-play digital applications. In turn, health system members can implement trusted digital tools as easily as anyone can download an app from an app store to a smartphone. These improvements will lead to more convenience, better quality care, lower costs, and overall efficiency.

“The digital revolution that advanced every industry in the world missed health care,” said Dr. Ries Robinson, CEO of Graphite Health and Chief Innovation Advisor at Presbyterian Healthcare Services. “Right now, when a hospital wants to adopt new innovative solutions, it is hampered by overly cumbersome processes that can require years to implement. Graphite Health will offer a true paradigm shift to deliver on the promise of lower costs and faster integration of solutions that significantly improve patient care and experience, while still maintaining the highest privacy standards.”

Fundamental to Graphite Health’s vision is the Digital Hippocratic Oath, which brings the health care industry’s core calling into the 21st century and serves as the ethical compass that guides all operations, including their approach to data sharing, integration, and technical processes. The Digital Hippocratic Oath is not just a steering principle – it’s a foundational element that allows Graphite Health to build trust between patients, doctors, health systems, and app developers, facilitating better outcomes throughout health care.

“Graphite Health is more than a new start-up, it represents a new approach to solving one of our long-standing national problems: health care is too expensive and inconvenient,” said Dan Liljenquist, Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer of Intermountain Healthcare. “By embracing the collective membership approach, and committing to our Digital Hippocratic Oath, we will ensure patients are treated as people rather than products. By doing so, Graphite Health will accelerate access to valuable digital tools that can deliver better health care outcomes at a lower cost.”

There are numerous digital solutions on the market, but it’s currently difficult for health care systems to adopt them. Health systems spend up to two years on average implementing new apps; negotiating the contracts and evaluating the security protocols alone can take more than six months. This impractical process means systems have to fully commit to the adoption of a new digital tool long before they can make meaningful use of it. Graphite Health will overcome these challenges through the collective power, scale, knowledge, and commitment of its health system members.

“The promise of digital transformation to reduce real human suffering is too big to quibble over definitions and silos. It is a collective problem that requires collective action,” said Carter Dredge, lead futurist of SSM Health. “We’re addressing this market failure through a novel utility model that spreads the costs and efforts across a broad set of like-minded stakeholders so everyone can lift together—so everyone can benefit.”

Graphite Health anticipates bringing additional health care systems and philanthropies into their coalition in the coming months, as well as partnering with leading technology innovators. Because one system alone cannot effectively drive the change needed, Graphite Health mirrors Civica Rx’s member-led, collective approach, which empowers the systems to scale their resources and own their transformations. In just two and a half years, Civica Rx has organized over a third of U.S. hospitals to ensure quality medicines are accessible and affordable to everyone.

Graphite Health operates as a non-profit company and its governance structure also prioritizes purpose over profit. The Board, composed of executives from the organizing health system members along with independent industry experts, serves the common interests of Graphite Health members and provides oversight. Members contribute to the company and commit to utilizing Graphite Health tools and technology. In return, members have a voice in the company’s direction and will benefit from the innovations ultimately deployed through the open Graphite Marketplace, along with the resources required to more easily onboard and adopt these new capabilities.

Graphite Health’s board of directors includes Dr. Ries Robinson, CEO of Graphite Health; Dale Maxwell, President and CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services; Dan Liljenquist, Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer at Intermountain Healthcare and Board Chair of Civica RX; and Carter Dredge, Senior Vice President & Lead Futurist at SSM Health.

Graphite Health’s advisors include Aneesh Chopra, former Chief Technology Officer of the United States and president of CareJourney; Matthew Davie, Chief Strategy Officer at Kiva; Celine Gounder, MD, CEO, President and Founder at Just Human Productions; Daniel Tunkelang, PhD, independent consultant specializing in data science; Matthew Trunnell, freelancer and Acting Executive Director at Chicagoland COVID-19 Commons; and Jim Routh, cyber security leader and former Chief Security Officer at Aetna.