A surprisingly better integration, however, is coming in the near future, says Sutaria. And when it works, today’s health information management seems as old as sending a telegram. “The ubiquity of cloud infrastructure is going to enable that,” says Sutaria. “If you choose to share your data, your doctor will know about your steps and stress level from the apps you use, and smart pill packs can record whether you’re taking your medication. If you have chest pain, paramedics can access your records in an ambulance and exchange pre-hospital intervention history with the receiving hospital. The ER doctor has a complete They have your risk profile, so your treatment can be pre-arranged, and they’ll take you straight to the cath lab.
A new understanding of the power of health information can begin this transformation. In the US, for example, the historically decentralized nature of healthcare has been a stumbling block, but recent legislation mandating interoperable EHR master data and ensuring patient ownership of health data is changing this.
“These two provisions have started a movement that I believe is unstoppable,” Sutaria said. “Now it’s a game-changer, because the law says providers must share this data wherever the patient—the owner of the data—tells them to share it.” After an extended legislative period, these provisions took effect at the end of 2022.
Download the report
This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It is not written by the MIT Technology Review editorial staff.
