In this article by Jon Payne, Director of Sales Engineering and Education at InterSystems, we contrast and compare two sectors and how they can learn from one another through empowering users and patients through data.
Across the world, the healthcare sector faces a range of complex challenges as it focuses on its core goal of maintaining and improving the health and well-being of individuals and communities. For example, many healthcare institutions globally are struggling with inadequate funding, as well as ongoing shortages of health and care professionals. Coupled with all this, there is an urgent need for healthcare providers to make better use of available data.
Currently, the sector generates vast volumes of data but often struggles to analyse and apply it effectively. Healthcare data comes from a wide array of sources, including electronic health records (EHRs), medical imaging, laboratory systems, wearable devices, and more. Each of these sources often uses different formats and standards, making it difficult to integrate and standardise data across systems.
This disparity impacts the ability of clinicians to access the data they need to drive timely, well-informed decisions that, in turn, deliver better patient care. Patients often feel disempowered and disengaged in their own care, also. Many can’t access medical records, laboratory results and treatment plans in a clear, standardised way, and therefore, struggle to understand their conditions and make informed decisions about their treatment. For these reasons there is an urgent need to ensure that interoperable products, services and systems are rapidly deployed and adopted to deliver benefits to patients, health systems, science and innovation.
The financial services precedent
In addressing these challenges, there is much that healthcare could learn from the experience of the finance sector. Implemented in 2018, the UK’s Open Banking model serves as a powerful example of how enhanced data accessibility and interoperability can transform an industry. This initiative revolutionised the financial sector, granting consumers unprecedented control over their financial data and igniting a dynamic FinTech market. It demonstrates the transformative impact of enabling seamless data sharing and integration.
The interoperability and data sharing mandated by Open Banking have spurred innovation in the financial sector. FinTech startups and established financial institutions alike have developed new apps and services, from personal financial management tools to more efficient payment services, all leveraging access to banking data. Moreover, this has allowed individuals to securely share their financial data with third-party providers (TPPs), as well as empowering them to make more informed decisions, access better financial products and manage their finances more effectively.
Learning from FinTech: Empowering users to control their data
The financial sector’s journey offers valuable lessons for healthcare, particularly in empowering end-users. FinTech has thrived by enabling consumers to control their financial data, leading to more personalised services and products. Similarly, in healthcare, giving patients control over their health data could revolutionise the way they interact with healthcare services. This empowerment can lead to better-informed decisions and a more proactive approach to health and wellness. As a result, patients would then have the opportunity to access a wider range of digital health tools and platforms, including personalised health apps, telemedicine services and integrated care management systems, all tailored to their specific health needs and preferences.
The FinTech sector’s success lies in its ability to innovate and stay ahead of the curve, leveraging new technologies to enhance user experience and efficiency. Healthcare can adopt similar strategies, utilising advanced technologies like advanced analytics, machine learning, and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) to provide more accurate diagnoses and personalised treatment plans. These technological advancements can enable more effective data management, predictive analytics for health outcomes, and a more interactive and responsive healthcare experience for patients.
The imperative of interoperability in healthcare
By learning from FinTech, healthcare can also improve its user interfaces, making them more intuitive and user-friendly, thus enhancing patient engagement and satisfaction. Adopting a standardised health data model in healthcare, akin to the Financial API standards in banking, could bridge the current informational divides.
This adoption would facilitate the development of third-party applications, transforming traditional pathways and linking hospitals to people’s homes more effectively. However, this transition requires collaboration among health and care providers, technology firms, policymakers, and patient advocates. Additionally, ensuring data security and patient privacy, with models like GDPR and HIPAA, is crucial.
The journey towards a unified health data standard is complex and requires a multi-faceted approach. It involves not only the technical aspects of standardising data formats and protocols but also addressing the cultural and organisational changes needed to support such a shift. Healthcare providers must be willing to embrace new technologies and workflows and patients must be educated about the benefits of sharing their health data.
A call to action for unified data interoperability
It is time for governments and policymakers to collaborate with industry, healthcare professionals, and patients to develop a plan for implementing interoperability standards and ensuring the rapid deployment and adoption of interoperable products and services. This will require a combination of healthcare domain expertise and data experience to act as a catalyst driving it forward.
Equally it depends on the free flow of data within organisations, across communities, between information systems, from devices to apps, and from healthcare providers to innovators. Finally, it relies on health data integration, powered by interoperability standards like HL7 FHIR, enabling that flow by ensuring that data is understood the same way from start to finish by devices, systems and people.
All these are vital steps towards realising the vision of a seamlessly interconnected healthcare ecosystem. It recognises the need for a concerted effort to overcome the barriers to interoperability and harness the full potential of digital health technologies. By following the lead of the open banking movement, the healthcare sector can create a more integrated, efficient and patient-centred system.
In conclusion, the healthcare sector stands at a pivotal moment. By learning from the FinTech sector and embracing the principles of data interoperability and user empowerment, healthcare can undergo a transformation as profound as that experienced in finance.
This shift will not only enhance patient care but also drive innovation, ultimately contributing to a future where people can age healthily, and healthcare systems operate more efficiently and effectively. The lessons learned from FinTech, combined with a dedicated pursuit of interoperability, herald the dawn of a transformative era in healthcare. In this new phase, technology acts not just as a tool, but as a vital bridge leading to enhanced health outcomes and the evolution of a more sustainable healthcare ecosystem.