News that hospitals are turning to technology partners is typified by a report in The Wall Street Journal. This is with news that several hospitals have granted Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. permission to access identifiable patient information.
This forms part of a new deal to subject millions of health records to big data analysis. According to the newspaper, this move represents the latest examples of hospitals’ increased influence in the new data economy.
Divers for the adoption of big data analytics in the healthcare market include an increased demand for analytics solution to aid population health management, plus a shift in preference from a pay-for-service model to a value-based care model.
In the U.S., hospitals can collect and share patient data as long as they follow federal law. The new partnerships have the potential to yield information and products valuable to patients. As an example, Microsoft working with Providence hospitals in order to develop oncology algorithms. The algorithms will be used to create medical notes, embedded within patient records.
The risks with the digital transformation of healthcare include the fact that health information can be exposed in data breaches. Furthermore, data can also be made available during medical malpractice lawsuits, workers’ compensation lawsuits or custody disputes.
Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO of Secure Access provider, Pulse Secure, tells Digital Journal that securing across all endpoints in this new environment is critical to maintaining security:
According to Ramakrishna :”The healthcare industry and its health data ecosystem is expanding. Whereas patient data was once primarily controlled by the primary care and hospital systems, it now collected, shared and analyzed through more complex network of devices, applications and resources co-hosted by hospitals, their suppliers, and now tech companies.”
Why is needed, Ramakrishna says is new technology. He states: “To manage distributed health data risks, the industry must advance secure access management capabilities to mitigate threats and sensitive information leakage.”
With a view as to the way technology is changing, Ramakrishna adds: “This becomes especially important as mobile devices, IoT-enabled devices, health systems and data pools are increasingly targeted by cybercriminal.”
