Data Meets Healthcare

FountainBlue’s January 15 VIP Roundtable on the ‘Data Meets Healthcare’ topic included executives representing a wide breadth healthcare industries – from pharma to biotech, from healthcare services to digital health, and even tech companies in semiconductor and consumer electronics had perspectives on the topic. We all agreed that the advances in technology and in healthcare have facilitated the amazing response to a worldwide pandemic and other pervasive and emerging health issues.Although their backgrounds and strategies varied, our participating executives agreed on the following regarding data meeting healthcare.

1. Data will continue to be pervasive and overwhelmingly available. And the challenge will continue to be in selecting the relevant, true and actionable data which would best serve stakeholders across the ecosystem, which protecting their privacy, and providing selective and immediate access.
2. Focusing on getting the data right alone can help improve how quickly and accurately we diagnose, treat and care for our patients. Indeed, it could also help prevent diseases and conditions and help mitigate risks.
3. There may be opportunities to extrapolate from large volumes of data to draw conclusions and help develop initial diagnosis and treatment strategies.
4. Proactively managing the usage of equipment and materials and pharmaceuticals with data will help ensure logistical and operational excellence in support of the healthcare needs of our patients, and the bottom line of the providers and caretakers across the ecosystem.
5. The more data we gather about people with similar conditions, the more we learn about each individual person, and the more generalities we might be able to make about a particular disease. But every person will respond differently to different things, so respect the collected data without making direct correlations and conclusions on how any one person might react and respond to any particular scenario.

We all remarked on the value of collaboration across the ecosystem so that we can all better benefit. Below is a compilation of thoughts on the market opportunities ahead, which might benefit from collaboration.

• Personalized medicine can be a real opportunity if we can overcome the privacy, security and access challenges and if the technology continues to evolve so that we can design custom diagnosis and treatment for patients.
• Empowering the consumer with data will help them as patients better partner with others across the ecosystem to make better decisions in researching their own conditions, and also in making treatment and care decisions.
• Identifying and treating a niche market may have ripple effects in supporting others. The example of an expectant mother comes to mind.

Throughout the discussion, there was a message of hope as we all grapple with the different challenges and opportunities offered as data meets healthcare. It’s significant that companies far outside the healthcare sector are looking closely at how data meets healthcare, and what the business and market  opportunities are, and also significant that each executive is exploring how we can better connect and provide more impact for all.
Please also see Frost & Sullivan’s Top 10 predictions for healthcare in 2021.

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