Anupam Goel has a big prediction: More and more patients will bring their own medical data into appointments with doctors and caregivers.
Goel, chief medical information officer for Advocate Health Care, a 12-hospital health system in Illinois, is not alone in saying that such a consumer movement is percolating.
Sanford Health said it will incorporate as many data sources as possible into its enterprise data warehouse, according to Doug Nowak, senior executive director of enterprise data and analytics. “I would more than welcome additional data from patients,” Nowak said.
Same goes for Mohammed Saeed, MD, a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Medical School.
“Increased patient ownership and autonomy over healthcare data is inevitable,” Saeed said. “Mobile devices such as cell phones and activity trackers contain invaluable information.”
Natalie Hodge, MD, said that she has seen patients seeking health information since the days of AOL, then Google, with some even bringing in reams of content about a specific topic.
“Now we have the consumer movement,” said Hodge, Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of PreventScripts, a startup focusing on preventing health issues. “Providers are enabling self-collected data with the enterprise pop health back-end to continually engage and encourage improved health behaviors.”
The American Hospital Association found in research published this month that patient-generated data and customized services are top among the areas where healthcare organizations are investing in innovation today -- with the aim of improving patient experience and managing high-cost populations.
Another investment priority that AHA found are the digital technologies for creating virtual networks that can be harnessed to connect clinicians with surrounding communities.
It’s not just wearables and fitness trackers, either. A range of tools, including Hodge’s technology for preventing disease in at risk-patients, are emerging. EHR maker Epic in mid-September launched Share Everywhere, an interoperability tool that patients can use to grant caregivers one-time access to their data and, in turn, clinicians can send updates back into the MyChart portal.
Cedars-Sinai posted a new app for the Apple Watch that patients can use to find a doctor, connect to clinicians, schedule appointments, access their medical record and check lab results.
That’s just in the last month. The digital health landscape is peppered with apps and devices that could be used to improve outcomes.
