MIB, a data and analytics company that partners with life insurers, announced this week that it would work with the electronic health record vendor Cerner to provide access to 54 million patient records.

The agreement, according to a press release, will allow MIB's clients in the life insurance industry to gain broader access to medical records through Cerner technology and patient portals.

"Cerner's ability to rapidly retrieve organized and relevant patient data with prior consent, together with MIB's expansive reach and understanding of the life insurance industry, positions this relationship to address many of the issues facing carriers in the underwriting process today," said Cerner SVP of Strategic Growth Art Glasgow in a statement.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

MIB's EHR partnerships aim to allow life insurers to accelerate policy underwriting for applicants who give express consent, according to the company's website.  

The retrieval of electronic data allows carriers to eliminate paramedical exams in most cases, with a goal of improving applicant experience and reducing the amount of time before a policy is issued.

As of August, more than 50 life insurance carriers had signed on to use the MIB EHR platform.

"MIB is focused on providing quality data in a cost-effective way that will aid in the underwriting process," said MIB Chief Operating Officer Andrea Caruso.

"The industry currently lacks a single solution that provides easy access to medical information across multiple health systems and data providers," Caruso continued.  

MIB was already offering access to patient records via Epic and Meditech, said the company.   

"By entering into this exclusive agreement with Cerner, MIB has differentiated ourselves in the medical record retrieval space and has taken a major step toward becoming the one-stop-shop for medical records in the Life Insurance industry," said Caruso.  

THE LARGER TREND

The new partnership follows Cerner's announcement this past month that it was collaborating with New York Life to provide secure access to EHRs with patient consent.

Just a day later, Cerner's EHR competitor Epic announced that it had entered the "next phase" of its connectivity collaboration with Humana, geared toward streamlining prior authorization and claims processing.

ON THE RECORD  

"Our healthcare provider clients trust Cerner as a steward of their data and our solution securely accesses digital data to address the administrative burden they face with patient-directed data requests," said Glasgow.  

"At the same time, Cerner provides the patient with a smooth, fast and secure solution to meet their needs when applying for life insurance," he added.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.