Whether we’re analysing a pandemic, calculating people’s life expectancy, organizing health insurance, collecting patient responses to new therapies or whether we’re just making an appointment in a doctor’s office: Our health is closely connected to data. But how can we properly use this trove of data in order to develop new health care systems? And why should we? These questions are asked – and answered – in this Falling Wall Circle Plenary Table.
Our experts discuss how our smartphones are quickly changing the world of health and healthcare. New sensors and applications allow for new drug delivery services, health monitoring and novel digital therapeutics. Through the use of biometrics, telemetry and secure communication, consultation and diagnostics are bound to increasingly happen online.
“This big issue with data for health is trust”
“Digitization and data are meant to remove friction and bottlenecks”, says Erwin Böttinger. By getting access to their own health data, people gain a new perspective on healthcare in general. At the same time, health data is special, as it is deeply personal. To share it means we first have to establish ground rules about privacy, security, ownership, and anti-discrimination. “This bis issue with data for health is trust”, he concludes.
Another challenge is to put health data in relation to the clinical reality. Not every single data point is useful, which is why finding the right way to share and use data is a crucial task in the coming years, which may only be solved by a close collaboration between technology, politics and healthcare experts.