Healthcare Needs Protection from Its Own Innovation

This article originally appeared on Inside Digital Health. Click the link below for the full version.

Data play a critical role in healthcare relationships — whether that’s between patient and doctor, doctor and device or device and patient. Technology advancement and innovation have shifted the center of who is in charge of a patient’s healthcare. Instead of the doctor acting as the sole decision maker for a patient’s care plan, a broader consumer model has emerged in which the medical record is becoming democratized. As a result, patients and doctors are now partners in the management of care.

Stanford University School of Medicine’s annual Health Trends Report attributed this to the volume and rate at which data are being exchanged between individuals and organizations. Last year alone, the industry witnessed both technological and regulatory improvements (such as through the Global Medical Device Nomenclature) to accommodate patient data collection on medical devices that are supplied to hospitals. Providers are also being encouraged to create a more seamless experience for patients, driven by new technologies that are shifting the healthcare landscape.