Bringing Open-Source IT To Personalized Health

It's widely believed that engaged patients have better outcomes, but the healthcare industry has been grappling with how to make that happen.  Joanne Rohde, CEO and founder of mobile software developer Axial Exchange, believes the solution lies in bringing low-cost technology to patients at a personal level so they can track their health — and integrating that information with the systems physician use to run their practices.

The former COO of Red Hat talks about bringing open-source principles to health information exchange to make existing data access more intuitive and effective, while connecting parties safely and securely.  Medical Practice Insider Editor Frank Irving spoke with Rohde about that lofty goal and how it came into sharp focus during a personal health crisis.

Q: Your career spans investment banking, managing a $1 billion budget for UBS, and Linux development at Red Hat, where you supervised revenue growth from $100 million to $500 million. What convinced you to work in the muddled world of healthcare?
A: I became exceedingly ill. I really couldn't speak, I had pain all over, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs. I was the third person in my family that had gone through some pretty horrific diagnostic challenges and the ended up with chronic diseases. Ultimately, it took two years and 10 doctors to get diagnosed...