BY JULIE NORRIS
How many time have you heard, “Of course, you have access to your health data.” At a hospital, doctor’s office, lab or pharmacy. What is really being said is, “You can access a clunky web portal and our limited mobile app.” The subtext is, “That should you shout you up.” Sadly, healthcare information is one-way — the Healthcare Industry’s way.
Sure, Kaiser Permanente, and other integrated health organizations, have made great progress when it comes to electronic medical records. These systems have spent billions to provide patients, and their families, with the data, mobile apps, video visits and prescriptions by mail. These systems are mostly regional and the majority of US population doesn’t have access to the same level of patient centered information.
So what is the answer for the rest of us? In January 2016, McKinsey & Company published, “ehealth 2.0: How health systems can gain a leadership role in digital health by Gerardo Aue, Stefan Biesdorf, Nicolaus Henke.” The report documented the following research findings:
- 70 percent of patients aged 18 to 65 would be interested in digitally monitoring their health data.
- 71 percent of consumers are interested in quantifying their health and lifestyle behavior.
- Venture-capital firms invested $6.9 billion globally in digital health in 2014 and are set to spend at a similar level in 2015 and 2016.
- There 7,600 digital-health startups worldwide that are developing smartphone apps, wearable devices, and other digital applications to better manage and measure health.
This sheds a lot of light on the problem for the rest of us. To date, individual digital-health players have gone their own way in developing solutions. There is virtually no hard evidence that indicates they will come together anytime soon. There are only empty promises such as “creating interoperability for the greater good” or “your health or your data.”
The US Government is still trying to stop the blocking of health data. In Spring 2015, a handful of Health IT corporations showed up to be grilled by Congress. It didn’t do a lot of good. One year later, Sylvia Burwell, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is still begging doctors and hospitals to stand up against health data blocking.
What now? We look outside of the US. We look for companies that are not bound by puffed up claims that data can’t be exchanged securely, that the doctors and health systems own patient data, and that you can’t share your health data with friends and family on a mobile app because it violates HIPPA.
During my search for an answer to the health data question, I found Andaman7. A tiny Belgium company who’s founder, Vincent Keunen, is hell-bent on synchronizing health data and building circles of trust comprised of doctors, patients, mothers, brothers and friends for everyone. His team of 10 understands that over 2 billion consumers will have smartphones by the end of 2016. The team is working around the clock to create mobile apps that crush Healthcare’s status quo.
My recommendation is to keep an eye on Andaman7. I believe that in the next six months they will answer the question, “So what about the rest of us?’’
Julie Norris is the CEO of No Identical and a former leader at Kaiser Permanente, PwC and Siegel + Gale. Her passion and most recent successes are in reinventing consumer experiences in the Healthcare and Finance.
