From vaccine development to virus monitoring, the world would not have navigated the last two years without a massive reliance on technology. The same sentiment can be applied to how the healthcare sector moves forward on everything from addressing the elective care backlog to implementing Electronic Health Records (EHR). It’s all underpinned by one common element – consumer data.
The question is, has the rapid and forced adoption of technology in healthcare led to an irreversible acceptance from consumers that are inherently resistant to change?
The interconnection of healthcare and data
To give some idea of scale, consider this – health data makes up 30 percent of the world’s stored data. A single patient generates up to 80 megabytes yearly in imaging and EMR data alone. At a micro level, many of us have now had virtual GP consultations or received diagnoses via our mobiles. In a world of wearables, smartphones and medical techniques that are advancing daily, healthcare and data are now so interconnected that it is impossible to have one without the other.
Genie is out of the bottle on data
This is all because of trust. In a healthcare scenario – much more than say, retail or banking – we trust clinicians with our data because, as patients, there is not only a clear demarcation of expertise but a willingness to submit whatever is required in order to cure, fix or manage an issue. This remains the case in spite of high-profile data breaches like the 2017 WannaCry attack which impacted over a third of NHS Trusts. Indeed, according to reports, in 2021, an average of 1.95 healthcare data breaches of 500 or more records were reported each day.
Our Digital Frontiers research found that well over half (56 percent) of consumers feel comfortable or excited with medical consultations via video tools in the first instance. Looking more broadly, the research also uncovered a genuine consumer appetite for more digital and data-sharing applications. Almost half (46 percent) are comfortable or excited about a more qualified doctor conducting invasive surgery via remote robotics vs. a less-qualified doctor conducting it in person, while 61 percent of people feel comfortable or excited at having sensors and real-time data monitoring in place for a family member to predict when they will need medical assistance.
When it comes to our health, the genie is out of the bottle on data but realising all the benefits it can bring means much more needs to be done.
Data and information – our greatest weapon of defence
The combination of technology being ubiquitous and the fact older generations give those below them a glimpse into the future of health means data and information is, quite rightly, being lauded as arguably our greatest weapon of defence in the fight against fallibility or frailty. Take Alzheimer’s for instance, where more and more of us are being affected, both directly and indirectly, which is leading to a much greater societal willingness to submit data with the aim of finding a cure – evidenced by the launch of Outreach Pro, launched last year by the Alzheimer’s Association. Closer to home there is the Health-X data loft – a project in Germany that aims to create a “citizen-centered health data space” placing citizens at the centre of its focus, transforming them from passive recipients of services to active partners.
How we evolve from here is the pertinent point. By virtue of increasing the prevalence of technology in healthcare, we’re simultaneously reducing the burden and need for humans to the degree that many elements will eventually be human-free – some already are. But in most cases in healthcare, it won’t be a case of human Vs. machine, but of AND.
The new digital frontier for the healthcare sector
The future of global healthcare depends on organisations being able to unlock the value of data, transforming it into knowledge and using it to deliver better outcomes for patients. That is the new digital frontier for the healthcare sector that has advanced light-years in recent times. Not just in how data is used, but how it is extracted, stored, shared and safeguarded.
In that regard, irrespective of the department, disease, demographic or data set, the potential for all treatments, cures and challenges is in the data.
