Hospitals flooded with lucrative requests for health data
As more technology companies are working on healthcare solutions and developing new products, health information and patient data is becoming more valuable––and hospital executives are seeing a flood for requests, according to a report from CNBC.
Selling health information to technology companies is a “lucrative new opportunity” for healthcare executives, CNBC reported, and numerous deals already exist. For example, a deal between Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic health system, and Google allows the tech company to have access to the health information of tens of millions of Ascension patients. That deal has been highly scrutinized in the press and by Congress, but more of these types of projects are likely to forge.
According to one chief information officer of a Texas-based health system, pitches from tech companies come daily. The health data of patients can help software programmers design and train systems to recognize patterns and signs of disease that can lead to better care, but it also could put patient identities and other sensitive information at risk. Hospitals and health systems have scores of patient data and the executives are being “inundated” with requests to strike a deal.
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Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."