Why the convergence of scientific, academic and government data, and the 'database' of the citizen is the future of healthcare
I could make a strong argument that we are all database managers. For example, consider the user experience of a simple consumer photo application such as Picasa. Every photograph can contain a tremendous amount of information: who took it and when, the camera type, the focal length – to name but a few fields. But I'm intrigued by the way that you can add layers of public data to your private content. In the case of Picasa, you can use Google's mapping data to add an additional layer of meaning to your photos.
Of course the world of 'mash-ups' has been with us for a while. But I'd like to extend the metaphor. When I post a comment on Facebook, for example, comments from my friends enrich the original statement. Their likes and dislikes, some context for my statement, maybe a direct answer to my question. LinkedIn is another example with a professional focus where data converges to create meaning in our day to day lives.
Convergence is something of a buzzword across all industries, but particularly in healthcare. Technology is bringing patients and medical professionals' activities together so they overlap, resulting in new ideas, greater efficiencies and expanded functionality. And new opportunities.
The consequences of convergence for electronic health records (EHRs) could be extremely important. Currently, EHRs provide consistent, structured and cohesive information about patients, but these strengths could potentially hold them back from further development. The greatest hope for medicine lies in finding a way to combine medical data from the private citizen with a wider range of information available.
What if patients received their electronic health record in an open format that allowed them to mash it up with other information they, or their doctors, might find relevant? Information, such as family medical history, or location could help doctors identify causes of illness and contributing factors, and even inspire research.
If this was the case, would there be room for third parties? A new breed of medical/social data analysts could emerge, taking patients’ EHR and combining it with other information to help reach more informed health decisions.
Who, in the world, has the software and the processing power to do this? Google? Microsoft? Apple perhaps? It would also need to be an organisation that could manage the huge privacy issues involved as well. One thing's for sure, however: We still fail to make the most of patient generated data and private records, even EHRs. But if we can share financial information with big online brands, then who knows?