Health data is all around us. Your electronic health records (EHRs) include your medical issues, test results, vital signs, allergies, prescriptions, and surgeries. Your health insurer’s database collects the claims paid on your behalf. Your pharmacy may record your flu and covid-19 shots. Maybe a smartwatch counts your steps and measures your heart rate; perhaps a genetic testing company has your DNA. Some people have pacemakers that transmit information to their cardiologist or implanted sensors that continuously track their blood sugar.
What we don’t have is a way to make this data all work together—a “personal health ecosystem,” says Bharat Sutariya, MD, managing director in health care for Deloitte Consulting LLP and an emergency medicine specialist. The endocrinologist treating your diabetes doesn’t have ready access to your eye exam results, which could help them preserve your eyesight. Your phone might contain vital medical information that emergency room (ER) staff needs to properly take care of you, but it has to be able to connect with the hospital’s systems to transmit that data.
Dramatically better integration, however, is coming in the not-so-distant future, Sutariya says. And when it does, today’s health information management will seem as antiquated as sending a telegram. “The cloud infrastructure that’s becoming ubiquitous is going to unleash that potential,” Sutariya says. “If you choose to share your data, your doctor will know about your steps and your stress level from the apps you use, and smart pill packs will be able to record whether you’re taking your medication. If you have chest pain, paramedics will be able to access your records in the ambulance, and they’ll exchange pre-hospital intervention history with the receiving hospital. The ER doctor will have your treatment already staged because they’ve got your complete risk profile, and they’ll get you right to the cath lab.”
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