Realizing the Value (and Profitability) of Digital Health Data
Authors: David Blumenthal
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2017)

Ideas and Opinions6 June 2017Realizing the Value (and Profitability) of Digital Health DataDavid Blumenthal, MD, MPPDavid Blumenthal, MD, MPPFrom The Commonwealth Fund, New York, New York.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M17-0511 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail As clinicians click and tap at their electronic health records (EHRs), they may be unaware that they are fueling a huge public and private enterprise that will turn their patients' digitized health data into enormously valuable—and potentially profitable—new products. All those patient reports, physical findings, problem lists, medication lists, and laboratory and imaging tests will not remain confined on local servers forever. Instead, once ethical, technical, and legal issues are resolved, those data will be sucked into cloud-based test beds, where machine learning and artificial intelligence will refine them into software algorithms that create vast new clinical capabilities. For the ...References1. Tecco H. 2016 year end funding report: a reality check for digital health. Rock Health. January 2017. Accessed at https://rockhealth.com/reports/2016-year-end-funding-report-a-reality-check-for-digital-health on 27 February 2017. Google Scholar2. Swanson C. How Google plans to reinvent healthcare. The Motley Fool. 2 September 2016. Accessed at www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/03/how-google-plans-to-reinvent-healthcare.aspx on 27 February 2017. Google Scholar3. Healthcare's ‘space race': 15 investors, corporate execs, and regulators sound off on digital health disruption. CB Insights. 21 July 2016. Accessed at www.cbinsights.com/blog/digital-health-investor-commentary on 27 February 2017. Google Scholar4. Bergen M. Is health care Google's next big business after search? This investment bank thinks so. Recode. 13 September 2015. Accessed at www.recode.net/2015/9/13/11618512/analyst-investment-bank-cowen-report-google-healthcare-next-multi on 27 February 2017. Google Scholar5. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Advancing Care Information performance category fact sheet. 29 December 2016. Accessed at https://qpp.cms.gov/docs/QPP_ACI_Fact_Sheet.pdf on 27 February 2017. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From The Commonwealth Fund, New York, New York.Disclosures: Author has disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M17-0511.Corresponding Author: David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, The Commonwealth Fund, 1 East 75th Street, New York, NY 10021; e-mail, [email protected]org.Author Contributions: Conception and design: D. Blumenthal.Drafting of the article: D. Blumenthal.Critical revision for important intellectual content: D. Blumenthal.Final approval of the article: D. Blumenthal.This article was published at Annals.org on 2 May 2017. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byTrust and digital privacy in healthcare: a cross-sectional descriptive study of trust and attitudes towards uses of electronic health data among the general public in SwedenPerformance Management in Digital TransformationAn Iterative and Collaborative End-to-End Methodology Applied to Digital Mental HealthWillingness to Share yet Maintain Influence: A Cross-Sectional Study on Attitudes in Sweden to the Use of Electronic Health DataVulnerable patients' attitudes towards sharing medical data and granular control in patient portal systems: an interview studyAlignment of Key Stakeholders’ Priorities for Patient-Facing Tools in Digital Health: Mixed Methods StudySemantic data interoperability, digital medicine, and e-health in infectious disease management: a reviewNew Opportunities for Digital Health to ThriveBig Data Challenges for Clinical and Precision MedicineCritical Care, Critical DataHealth Information Technology 6 June 2017Volume 166, Issue 11Page: 842-843KeywordsAlgorithmsArtificial intelligenceDigital healthElectronic medical recordsForecastingHealth careHealth economicsHealth information technologyMachine learningPatients ePublished: 2 May 2017 Issue Published: 6 June 2017 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2017 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...